Chicago has the blues as Hawks tumble toward the playoffs with another loss
If Joel Quenneville doesn't believe in the structure that has made the Blackhawks one of the NHL's best teams, then who am I to argue. Let's tear it all down and start over.
We may as well shake up all the names in a dice cup before the rest of the games and see whether Dustin Byfuglien is our new first-line winger or perhaps our No. 1 goalie. As far as I can decipher, it has become nothing but a crapshoot, anyway, after their Titanic collapse continued with Tuesday night's 4-2 loss in St. Louis.
As long as the Hawks keep losing, they are lulling their first-round opponent into believing a best-of-seven upset against Chicago won't be that difficult a challenge at all. The Hawks are setting themselves up as fall guys with all the excuses in the world to fall on their faces and make us all wonder what all the fuss was about.
Let me ask you this. Was Quenneville really the first one to hit the panic button? And what message does that send to his players and to his fans if he was, unwilling to tough out the rugged finish with the same patterns that have suddenly gone awry for him?
He broke up Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane here, tampering with their media image as twin salesmen. He continued to think Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook were better apart and stuck Kane with Kris Versteeg as his new center and the talent-deprived Byfuglien as nothing but a bumbling partner, who will have plenty of near misses because he isn't good enough to play on the top two lines and will drag Kane and the team down with him.
I know Scotty Bowman likes Quenneville better than he respected Denis Savard because Q reminds Scotty of him, somebody willing to dip his fingers into the pie when the crust began crumbling with a belief that personal coaching genius would win in the end and make the pie whole again by messing with the same old recipe.
Maybe the Hawks have too many cooks in the kitchen? Anybody want to argue that? I know before I hear the Hawks' party line--Scotty has no influence at all in how games are coached. Yeah, right. I don't believe it. Scotty still has his hand in the pie and we've got some real bad looking raspberry stain on our hands.
Kane was not a factor. Kris Versteeg was not a factor. They were never meant to play off one another.
Toews was a boon for Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa. His steal high in his own zone led to an opportune pass the other way that sent Sharp to a breakaway goal. He lifted a backhander past Chris Mason for a 1-0 lead in the first period.
The Blues soon answered on an Alexander Steen goal, the start of a big game for him. The imrpoved energy that Q was looking for was shown when Toews turned the rush toward the Blues out of a blue-line turnover by St. Louis defenseman Eric Brewer. Mason kicked away Toews' shot, but Hossa roared in for the rebound and a backhanded score for a 2-1 edge.
Brewer got his revenge with an early second-period point shot that beat Antti Niemi, who wasn't the stonewall that his supporters hoped he would be. When Steen bounced another score off Niemi's shoulder for a 3-2 lead with 16:33 left in the third, the Hawks were on their heels and you just had the feeling they weren't coming back.
If Hossa had scored early in the third to give Chicago a 3-2 lead, what then? Might they have been able to sew up a game in a third period that is suddenly their Achilles heel period? Who knows. But Hossa's nifty pass between two Blues defenders as he skated left of them to take his own pass and his failed breakaway shot between the legs sealed the Hawks' fate.
Nice try, but just not enough. The Hawks seem to be left to individual battles, but simply aren't winning and connecting as a team.
When Steen worked free the puck in a battle along the boards with Brent Sopel and fed the wide-open Erik Johnson breaking down the slot, the outcome was never in doubt. Johnson darted away from Sharp's defense and was untouched as he scored the Blues' fourth goal, leaving the Hawks with mounting questions and a plunging reputation.
I suggest Quenneville quit playing Scotty Bowman and go back to the lines and defensive pairings that were so good for so long this season. Dave Bolland centering for Kane, if he must, would be much better than Versteeg. But has Bolland's stock fallen so far that his demotion here to the third line with Troy Brouwer and Andrew Ladd shows how far he has fallen in the coach's eyes?
John Madden has become an afterthought. He could be playing his final games as a Hawk, because who wants him back? The line of Madden, Adam Burish and Ben Eager was just beside the point altogether.
The Hawks power play was again as fearsome as a baby's fist.
The Hawks are so disorganized right now that you have to wonder why Q is shuffling that chaos by changing so much on the fly. Maybe I just can't see the genius of it all and it will become clear to me in the playoffs once we soar to the Stanley Cup championship,
Yeah, that's another thing. No one talks about a Cup title anymore in Chicago. Everybody would feel pretty damn good right now to believe the team will survive the first round.
Or even win two or three more times in the regular season. Let's hope that last game of the season against Detroit doesn't have the Red Wings primed to overtake the Hawks.
What could be worse than that the Hawks are disintengrating at the exact same time the Wings are generating playoff momentum.
The wheels have come off. But since Scotty invented the wheel, I'm sure he and Q will be putting their heads together before playing at Minnesota Wednesday night and come up with a new mode of transportation to fool the Wild.
Wouldn't want Marty Havlat to have the last laugh, would we?
Oh, and by the way, say hello to Cristobal Huet. Is there any reason not to start him in Minnesota?
9 Comments
VegasHawksFan said:
No good can come of putting Huet in now Mike. When the mouth breathers decide a guy's a bum, he's a bum. Besides, why speak ill of the dead? The spirit of Keenan has been channeled, and I can only imagine that the next gameplan will be to go out and try to hit the Wild into submission. If you are the wild, you have to be absolutely salivating at the chance to play the Hawks and get one more feel good win for yourselves before year end; they can keep a seat open for Hawks players on the golf cart as it probably won't be long before they join them. Suddenly turning a corner doesn't seem likely to me, I think they still have a few more games to lose in the free fall before they limp into the playoffs. Indeed, I as well hope they aren't playing Detroit and fighting them for a meaningful spot a couple of weeks from now.
blkhawk11 said:
Well written as usual, Mike and very good points to ponder here as I watched the game with great hope, but yes, after the Blues tied the game, the Hawks fate seemed to be sealed. I just don't understand Q's reasoning re: lines so jumbled and believe you have valid points referring to Bowman into the thick of things...makes me disgusted to no end. We know that this Hawk team has talent but we do not have any say as to way it is patterning...too bad and too sad to say the least. Hopefully, we will at least win a few games before the playoffs.
SDSTAN said:
Steen won a battle along the boards with Sopel? What a joke, Sopel was hunched over staring at the puck making no effort to jam it loose while Sharp was asleep in the slot letting the defenseman walk in un-touched, a pathetic, back-breaking 4th goal. Have these guys lost interest in playing hockey? Sure seems that way. Q is losing his mind as well, how can the players get any flow in their game when they play with someone different every night? Buff on the first line, you have got to be kidding me, he has no finishing ability. Move him back to D, sit the old man Sopel down, put Keith and Seabrook back together and bring up some energy from Rockford (Bickell/Dowell). Versteeg is an absolute joke right now and has no business being with Kane, put his ass on the fourth line (better yet in the press box) until he learns how to play responsible and hustle. I couldn't believe my eyes on one shift when he was coasting back on one leg into his own zone with the Blues on the rush.
Even though the Hawks have games in hand, the way they are playing right now Vancouver and even possibly Nashville or Detroit could pass them. They better wake up and get their shit together (coaches and players!)
Jerry Kayne said:
Nice article Mike. And great comments guys. Does everyone get the same quiet calm I get after after the Hawks give away a lead? And just when I get Versus back. What a national humiliation. Another coach's loss.
Last night's game was a pretty good one and could have been a win even with the stupid lines had the right skill were on the ice to break out of our zone. The Hawks defend, break out, or rush the offensive zone with the lines in disarray. Mike, add on to your thought as Burrish on wing is a head scratcher. My biggest gripe with Q is he's not only not putting the best line combinations on the ice, but he's not even putting the best players on the ice in important situations. Ladd & Buff on the power play? Finally in the last period it was Kane, Hossa, Towes, Sharp, & Keith/Seabrook with less that 5 minutes left and 2 goals down. This is nuts. We can't win this way. Do they want to win? Hmm.
As I write this 3 things come to mind asking if there's some bigger picture beyond Bowman that I'm missing:
1. Do the Brass upstairs care about winning a cup this year? Did they forget that these opportunities don't come around every year? (Or every half century in some cases)
2. Do the Brass upstairs want to tank this year and drag out the process? Is there more money in that?
3. Do they consider these games throw-aways and are trying to accelerate the growth of Versteeg & Buff? Or lulling the league into a false sense of security?
Bonus thought: If our defense is so hosed, why don't they try to make up for it with control offense and double-shift the skill players. Don't want to wear them out (answered my own question, idiot).
I feel betrayed as a fan. There is no logical reason for the coach's to break the team down like this. These are not combinations with winning in mind, nor lessons learned. This is a deliberate thumbing of the nose at someone. But I can't figure out who, but I feel like it's me.
If there's a grand plan in Q's back pocket then could you please put it into play for the fans in the last few games? I'm considering not watching again until the playoffs, and then I have no expectations anymore. Just hope.
Dave Morris said:
Mike, when Johnsson and Campbell were erased from the active roster, the Hawks went into free fall.
Maybe in 'Karate Kid' movies, the hero gets up and wins the fight with one leg broken, ribs taped up, arm in a sling and one eye closed.
Not this time.
...unless Q has a case of Popeye's Special Spinach he's saving for the last team meal before the playoffs.
If DunkinSeabs were Serge Savard and Larry Robinson, and Andy Niemi were Ken Dryden, maybe it'd be different. Scotty could just inject some of his Bowman Championship DNA into the petrie dish the Hawks are splashing around in.
Or maybe all this mess needs is a giant Sham Wow! Dial the toll-free number. Operators are standing by.
Hostile Hawk said:
Q is being exposed for the coach that he is right now, unable to make a decision. We have seen this all year and I fear that the Olympics threw that added beat down to certain players that has let the shit out of the can. Tired players + a loss of foundation leads to disaster. Add in the disease that is Huet and you have yourselves a seriously struggling team. The lines should never have been juggled the way they were and I have been saying this since last year. It damn time to know what combinations work well together and to stick it out. When a cluster F#@% happens, it is time to go back to the basics and establish a foundation.
The Hawks have a fever and Q has no prescription. Playing Huet tomorrow would let it fester even more.
This is a really disappointing time, but with the right words, practices, power play explosion and choices from Q this team can start winning again.
I do think if Hossa puts that puck in the net on the breakaway, the Hawks win. His shot was an ill choice, he had Mason on the backhand side. But you can't blame one player for a loss, and when all the players, besides Sharp look sick, coaching gets the focus.
Jerry Kayne said:
Well said puckpowwow, and you were correct all along.
As you may know I'm a big Sharp booster and I was really happy to see his hard work rewarded with that wicked breakaway yesterday. I noticed that he's really cranking it up now on both ends and the neutral zone. I wish I could see how that one bad defensive play happened on him with a wide camera shot. I bet it wasn't so obvious as it looked, if it was we know he learned something from it. He sets a good example for the team. I don't know if you remember but before Towes and Kane arrived, Sharp was the core of the team. And he's getting better every year. Not to mention maybe the off-ice glue that makes this team feel like brothers.
VegasHawksFan said:
I wonder if it's possible to reverse what's been going by treating this game like they did the last game to the Yotes. By the time the Hawks played the horrible collapse game agains the wild, I think they had already gotten into a bad groove of coming out strong, putting up a chunk of goals, and then more or less fading as if to say, "We made our point." After that face rubbing in shit, I really don't think this team has been the same. There's still no reason to not talk about this team having the assets it needs to compete at a Stanley Cup level. However, seeing division champ caps already for sale as well as that REALLY bad billboard on the Eisenhower probably indicates this market is way overbought and ripe for a serious correction.
With such a young team, I can handle the stars making some stupid plays here and there and even an occasional slump. What bothers me most though is that I don't feel like the team has taken a real step forward in becoming that dominant team that is ready to play shutdown hockey in their sleep. Early season, our D was phenomenal at puck movement and at helping the offense get going with great passing out of the D zone. And then something happened. It's not just Q, it's not just Huet and it's not just players not giving a damn. There is no one answer. Seeing as how the last trip to see the Wild resulted in a serious feeding of humble pie, maybe some of the answer starts in treating this game as if it's even more important than that game again the Yotes. Putting that kind of effort and emotion into it certainly can't hurt.
Alex said:
A flawless game tonight against the Wild. Great win. Great shutout. On to New Jersey for two in a row.
Leave a Comment?
What your comment will look like:
said: