Yeah don't think I had a oh shit moment tonight. Timmo can't skate. Can't believe Stan had that much faith in him. Terrible trade.
They played game 1. The final Score was 4-1. They and every other game this series has been a 1 goal game regardless if they played or not I'm done but you all get awfully defensive about clearly tangible shit.
NHL Public Relations @PR_NHL .@88PKane scored his 10th career playoff GWG, tying Toews for 3rd on @NHLBlackhawks all-time list behind Bobby Hull & Stan Mikita (both 11). For the third time in NHL history, there will be a pair of Game 7s in the round that determines which teams will play for the Stanley Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks made that so with a 5-2 win over theAnaheim Ducks in Chicago. They’ll play Game 7 in Anaheim on Saturday, a day after the Lightning and Rangers play in their conference final matchup. It’s the first time that there have been two such Game 7s since 2000 (Devils vs. Flyers, Stars vs. Avalanche). The only other instance was in 1964 when the Maple Leafs played the Canadiens and the Red Wings faced the Blackhawks. With the win, the Blackhawks improved to 26-5 at home over the past three postseasons. This game marked the first loss in regulation by the Ducks this postseason. The value of Duncan Keith The Blackhawks scored three goals in a span of 3:45 in the second period. Defenseman Duncan Keith assisted on all three. The Blackhawks controlled play when Keith was on the ice, particularly when the outcome was in doubt. The Blackhawks had 10 more shot attempts than the Ducks with Keith on the ice and the score “close.” The website War-on-Ice.com defines close as “situations in which the game is within one goal in the first and second periods, or tied in the third period or overtime.” Keith also came up big on the defensive end with four blocked shots, second on the team to Johnny Oduya. Keith has done this while logging an abundance of ice time. He's played an average of 31 minutes, 49 seconds this postseason. Shaw rewarded for hard work Andrew Shaw, previously denied a goal that he scored with his head earlier in the series, tallied the last two goals for the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks outshot the Ducks by 12 shots when Shaw was on the ice and by seven in 5-on-5 situations. The former was the best on the team. The latter tied for tops with Marcus Kruger. Blackhawks convert from in-close The Blackhawks scored on 3 of 9 shot attempts from “high-danger” areas (defined as the slot or low slot from War on Ice. The Ducks converted on only 1 of 8 such opportunities. Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen is struggling a little bit heading into Game 7. He has a 3.81 goals-against average and .856 save percentage in his past three games. He is 10-1 at home this postseason. Looking ahead The Blackhawks are 6-6 all time in Game 7s. Their past three Game 7s were decided in overtime, including last year’s conference finals, which they lost to the Kings at home. The Ducks are 2-4 all time in Game 7s. They’ve lost their past three.
I'm still salty about last years game 7. Offsides and high stick goal, blew two, two goal leads. Impossible deflection ends the game...still not over it.
Glad they get an extra day of rest before game 7 and 3 full days off before game 1 if they win. I expect Keith to play 35 minutes in game 7. Thought the D looked better with Rundblad over Timmonen. His speed allowed him to get to pucks and move them before the forecheck got on top of him. Will be interesting to see if the Hawks can get Anderson to crumble under the pressure of game 7. He's been pretty shaky in these last two games.
HawksNumbers@HawksNumbers 21s21 seconds ago With his 70th point, Duncan Keith surpassed Pronger last night for the most playoff points by a D in the last 10 years
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...things-rosenbloom-20150528-column.html#page=2 I’m all for making the Blackhawks and Ducks play another series and call it the Stanley Cup Final. Sorry, Rangers and Lightning. But nobody lets me have my way, so here’s the "5 Things" blog off Hawks 5, Ducks 2 in Game 6: 1. This is the reason the Ducks got Ryan Kesler: a Game 7 against the Hawks. No, wait, I lied. The reason the Ducks willingly paid a stiff price for Kesler last summer was a Game 7 against the Kings. That was team that wiped out the Ducks last year by destroying them down the middle the way the Kings destroyed the Hawks down the middle in the next round and the way the Kings destroyed the Rangers down the middle in the Stanley Cup Final. That’s why the Hawks and Ducks chased Kesler last summer. Each team needed a legitimate No. 2 center to win the Cup, and Kesler knew it. The Hawks and Ducks were the only two teams for which Kesler agreed to waive his no-trade clause with the Canucks. The Canucks demanded Teuvo Teravainen. The Hawks responded with, “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?’’ Like that, the Ducks landed the tough, aggravating, terrific, very aggravating, relentless, extremely aggravating, two-way center in exchange for center Nick Bonino, defenseman Luca Sbisa and their 2014 first- and third-round draft picks. “I’m going to Anaheim to win a championship,’’ Kesler said the night of the trade almost exactly 11 months ago, and he’s one win away from a berth in the final while representing arguably the most important matchup in the series. The Ducks want Kesler against Jonathan Toews. It doesn’t matter who Toews is skating with. It could be you and me, and Kesler still would hop over the boards if No. 19 was on the ice. Toews spent most of the series between Marian Hossa and Brandon Saad, and that included Games 3 and 4 in the United Center when Joel Quenneville had the last change. Then came Game 5, which the Hawks lost, and Game 6, which was win-or-walk. Quenneville armed his nuclear option, putting Toews with Patrick Kane in the first period after the Hawks failed to get the kind of start they expected at home. Using the last change to dictate matchups, Quenneville was able to get Toews against Ryan Getzlaf, who is a world-class player, but doesn’t come close to making life as miserable as Kesler does. And even when Kesler managed to get on the ice against Toews, it was scrambly and on the fly. And voila, Kane scored one goal and set up Saad’s marker, Toews won 10 of 12 faceoffs and the line was a combined plus-6. But with the Ducks having the last change for Game 7, Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau can get Kesler against Toews before each faceoff as well as on the fly. That’s why I expect Quenneville to split up Toews and Kane. That’s Quenneville’s default setting because it balances his greatest scoring threats. It forces an opponent to give ice time to a less-talented checking line or it demands that an opponent’s big line worry about checking while trying to carry an offensive load. I expect Quenneville to open Game 7 with Toews between Saad and Hossa, while Kane skates with Brad Richards and Bryan Bickell. Until the Hawks get behind. 2. It must be a rule that the Hawks play at least one game in each series that forces me to repeat the first rule of their system: If Duncan Keith is going, the Hawks are going. Their offense starts with their defense, and their defense starts with Keith. Keith was all about ruining everything the Ducks had planned in just about every imaginable way in Game 6. He set up three goals in 3:45 in the second period and saved a goal in the third while controlling play almost every shift. What else ya got? And look at the ways Keith created those goals -- a stretch pass to Kane that led to Saad’s goal, a couple pump-fakes that set up Hossa's goal and a leaping stab to keep the puck in at the right point, then feeding Kane so he could undress a defenseman and make it 3-0. “He’s offensive, he’s all over the rink, he never seems to run out of energy,’’ Toews said of the man with whom he has won two Stanley Cups and two Olympic gold medals, so, yeah, he knows the guy’s game. And the defenseman who would be the Hawks’ leading Conn Smythe Trophy candidate can play defense, too, you should know. With the Ducks working a power play shortly after cutting the Hawks’ lead to 3-1, Keith reached across the crease to sweep away a puck headed for the far corner. To think, Keith’s amazing performance came amid all the noise about the Ducks’ continued pounding of Hawks defensemen. The Ducks said earlier there’s no way anyone can withstand all those hits. Now they’re contending Game 7 is the reason they’ve done all that hitting. The Ducks, of course, have to believe that. Outwardly, at least. Privately, however, the Ducks have to wonder why the cyborg defenseman looks better than anybody in a Ducks sweater. “He’s kind of a freak as far as his metabolism and conditioning level,’’ Quenneville said. “The more he plays, the more he gets going.'' The indefatigable Keith played 28:35, which is 85 seconds short of exactly half the game and nothing short of world-class. The Ducks can repeat their mantra about hitting all they want, but Keith still would be the best player on the ice if this series was the best-of-27. Especially if this series was the best-of-27. 3. Who was on the ice when the Hawks were trying to protect a lead late in Game 6? The Marcus Kruger line, that’s who. Although it feels like it should be referred to as the Andrew Shaw line. Shaw played 15:51, trailing only the Toews-Kane-Saad line and benefiting from some power-play time. But don’t kid yourself, Quenneville trusts Kruger, Shaw and Andrew Desjardins to smother Getzlaf’s unit of Transformers and trusts that line to win the last minute of a game. Check and check. A coach tells you how he feels about his lines by which players he puts on the ice in the last minute, and Quenneville's faith was rewarded not only with a shutout down the stretch but also with two goals by Shaw off nice passes from Desjardins. Shaw’s second goal went into an empty net, but his first was a beauty to make it 4-2. Blowing down the slot while fighting off the bigger Getzlaf, Shaw somehow went forehand-backhand-roof. Right under the cross bar. That’s a fourth-liner scoring a goal-scorer’s goal. That’s Kane-like dexterity. That’s Toews-like strength meeting skill. Shaw went 3-for-3 on faceoffs in Game 6, but he has been his usual contributing, terrorizing self since moving back to the wing in Game 4 after playing center on the third line in Game 3 because of Quenneville’s bad guess that benched Antoine Vermette and Teravainen. Shaw, Kruger and Desjardins were a combined plus-5 in Game 6, but looked even better using Score-Adjusted Corsi plus-minus. The advanced metric on the war-on-ice.com site mainly ignores distorted puck possession when teams get big leads and concede two-thirds of the ice in favor of packing the defensive zone. Kruger’s line ranked second on the Hawks. 4. Game 6 marked the Ducks’ first loss in regulation this postseason, an occasion marked by some bad and stupid hockey. “We lost our composure for the first time in the playoffs,’’ Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said of the Hawks’ three goals in 3:45 in the second period. “They scored the one goal. It was like, ‘Aah, what’s going on?’ We started scrambling all over.’’ The Ducks have developed a habit of scrambling all over late in playoff series, if not throwing up all over themselves. Last year they lost Games 6 and 7 to the Kings. The year before they lost Games 6 and 7 to the Red Wings. “I think last year’s Game 7, we were just a bunch of Nervous Nellies,’’ Boudreau said. “Hopefully, that happened in Game 6 and won’t carry over to Game 7.’’ If you’re looking to put some faces on the “Ducks are choking again’’ story, then you could start with the line of Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Patrick Maroon, who were a combined minus-9 in Game 6. Getzlaf and Perry went scoreless, while Maroon managed a power-play goal. The line came into the series with 35 points in nine games. Those three have just 11 points in the six games against the Hawks. If you’re looking for just a single face to put on the “Ducks are choking again’’ story, then try goalie Frederik Andersen. He was shaky to end Game 5 after giving up that atrocious game-tying goal to Toews on the goal line from the left corner, the fourth goal Andersen allowed Monday night. The young netminder hadn’t faced much adversity this postseason, but the idea that he’s breaking under the pressure gained strong evidence after the Hawks’ three-goal second period in Game 6. The hot goalie coming into the Western Conference finals suddenly has allowed 13 goals in the last three games and produced a worse save percentage each outing, plummeting to .818 in Game 6. What’s more, after the Hawks strafed him for three goals in 3:45 in the second period Wednesday night, Anderson has been drilled for three goals in a single period twice in the last three games. He had been beaten that way just once in the previous 12 games. When the Hawks blitzed Andersen in the second period Wednesday night, they went blocker side, stick side and five-hole. When Shaw went top shelf in the third period, the Hawks had pretty much scored for the cycle. 5. The home team has won the faceoff battle each game, but the Hawks destroyed the Ducks in Game 6, winning 33 of 50 draws, a stunning 66 percent. It was worse early. In fact is was a shutout, as the Hawks won the first 14 draws of the game. For one defensive zone faceoff, the Ducks sent out three centers, which would allow one or two players to cheat before the draw and not worry about getting thrown out of the circle. Didn’t happen. The Ducks lost that faceoff, too. a. I guess I’m not the only one who mistakes Teravainen for Kane in the heat of a game. NBC’s Hall-of-Fame announcer Mike “Doc’’ Emrick did it in Game 6, and for me, it’s not just that No. 86 looks like No. 88 on the sweater. It’s their marvelous skating and stickhandling in the open ice, but especially in tight and tough areas. Though six years younger than Kane, Teravainen already displays the body positioning that a smaller, skilled player must master to maintain control of the puck to not just survive in this league, but to star in it.
and will give anaheim a little more time to dwell on game 6. 1st time being beat in regulation in quite a while.
the Faceoff thing is a complete reversal from last year. Nice to have center depth this time of year. Plus every line has a winger who can do them. Big difference for game 7 will be Ducks getting last change.
Another "The Hawks are finished article" from Grantland. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/win-or-lose-are-we-witnessing-the-end-of-the-blackhawks/ Does everyone think the source of our success is Sharp and Bickell? Whatever, there will just be alot of shocked national writers when the Hawks contend again in the next few years.
No, but I can imagine. Is it really out of the realm of possibility that: Richards<Teravainen Bickell<McNeill Versteeg<Hartman Oduya<Johns Sharp<Panarin Like, I'd bet money that 3/5ths of those are true.
the D is going to be skating a lot faster next year imo. Will be addition by subtraction. Duck's are rolling out 4 defensemen under the age of 24. losing Sharp will hurt but might as well sell while the value is there for him and be tooled to make another run in 2017.
Right, next year is going to be a rebuild year where the Hawks compete for a wild card spot but in another year they're going to be good again. Toews and Kane will be in their prime, Teuvo and Saad will be at the start of theirs.
There are some scenarios where Sharp isn't traded. They are much tougher though. Check out hawkscap.com and go to the 15/16 possible rosters tab on the spreadsheet. It's possible to get under with Bickell+Versteeg gone.
I'm assuming the 50% of Versteeg's cap hit that Florida is eating is transferrable to other teams if the Hawks trade him?
The thing about trading Sharp is you have to think not how good will he be next year, but in 2 years because most likely this team will be good but not a Cup contender next year as they try to work in young guys. So if you can maximize value now and get a really good prospect or young player, you'd be wise to move a guy at peak value.
My firewall at work blocks that hawkscap website, so I'll have to check it out later. To keep this short and sweet, I'm guessing the more money the Hawks give Saad the less likely it is they aren't forced to trade Sharp (in addition to trading Bickell and probably Versteeg), correct? Obviously there are other things that could play into that, but it seems like they have to figure that out (Saad's contract) before they can do anything else with the roster.
Right. Saad is the big cog in this wheel. If they go short and cheap (say 2 years 3.75) they can keep a guy like Sharp. If they go long (6 years 5.5) then they are going to lose some guys. The other wild card is Kruger who is a RFA. Will be interesting to see if Stan goes bridge deals or things long term. He didn't really have an option after 2010.
Agreed. You would think Sharp would not have another statistical year like he did this year (about half the points he did the prior year), but the overall trend line is going to be downward and I just don't think you're getting good value for him at $5.9M per year.
True, but Kruger makes $1.325M a year. He'll probably get a bump, but he's not going to get nearly as big of a jump as Saad is. How big of an offer sheet do you think somebody else would offer him?
Don't think he'll get an offer sheet but you just don't see Bowman playing hardball with guys ever. Shaw went from like $560,000 to $2 mil. I think Kruger will be getting at least $2.5
We've hashed this out on HF but despite the short term pain I really really hope Stan goes long on Saad.
Yeah, it will be interesting to see how that one plays out. I don't really feel like Shaw is overpaid though.
I know and I think its the right move, but I just don't know what Bowman will do. I suspect he'll value Saad as a new piece of "the core" and will lock him up long term moving Sharp out in the process. Its just not realistic to think this team will be back in the WCF for the third year in a row next year. So sign Saad long term, try to get Kruger on a longer deal, move out Sharp, Bickell, Versteeg.
He's not. My point was no one was going to offer sheet him and we only had to pay him like $750,000 on a one year deal but instead Bowman paid him 3 years $6 mil.
I would be very happy if Kruger signs a long term deal. I might be wrong but I think there's still some offensive production in him that hasn't come out yet. It's shocking he just turned 25 yesterday.
I get what you're saying and you are probably right, but I don't know that you can actually say that and know it to be true.
Even if there isn't, he's a lock down defensive center. He's quietly taken on most teams top lines and battled them to a stand still. He's a lot closer to Dave Bolland that people realize. He doesn't do the agitating stuff Bolland did and isn't quite the scorer but he's every bit the defensive center.
Danault might be another Kruger. He is pretty ridiculous in the FO dot, grittier and might have more offensive game. He's like a mix of Bolland and Kruger but whether he is a shutdown C, we'll see. Pretty excited about him, though.
Hartman could be Shaw on steroids. He's a fucking idiot with sweet hands and good offensive instincts. Shaw hasn't done a lot of dumb shit lately. Hartman does something borderline suspendable almost every game.
Anyways, since we are all about jacking off to next year today. Here's my dream roster: Saad Toews Kane Panarin Teravainen Hossa Shaw Kruger Tikhonov<--- shutdown line Hartman Danault McNeill Nordstrom Keith Johns Oduya Hammer TVR Seabrook -6.5M to resign Oduya and sign Tikhonov.
Talking about next year is fun so I don't have to think about an impeding game 7. They won't go into next year with that many rookies though. They'll sign some low cost fodder like they did in 2011 and 2012
1 Rookie defenseman and 4 rookie forwards. That 4th line of Hartman-Danault-McNeill... I expect one or 2 of those spots to be taken by players coming in off the Sharp/Bickell/Versteeg trades. Or maybe they just resign Desjardins.
I still count TVR as a rookie since he's played 18 NHL hockey games. I think they'll sign 2 guys like Desjardins to play on the 4th line. Also wouldn't surprise me if they can't get rid of Versteeg and he's back for another year.
You can bet Palioletta is going to get a real long look next year to make the opening day roster too. Keep forgetting about him.
be interested to see how big the market would be for Sharp Ive seen some Isles have interest, Jersey, Pittsburgh, Boston, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, and obviously Florida. that much interest could garner a great return; wonder if we target the draft pick or an already established prospect or an already established player