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Hawks lose to Flames, lose Strome |
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3/32.
That is what the Blackhawks PP has looked like in the 7 games. That is a 9% "success" rate.
The Ottawa Senators lead the league with an 11.3% on the season. The Hawks – thanks to this horrendous slump – now sit at 28th with a 15.1%.
This, I believe will be the Blackhawks' downfall on most nights, just like last night's loss to the Calgary Flames.
This game had all of the makings of special team greatness for Chicago after they killed off not one, but two 5-3 disadvantages.
They had 2 PPs of there own but couldn't capitalize.
Scoring on the power play is going to become a little more difficult as the injury bug continues to work its way through the Blackhawks.
Dylan Strome went down mid-way through this game and did not return.
The Hawks will know more today on whether we're looking at days or weeks but to me, it looks like a high ankle sprain, similar to Saad. So, I'm expecting a timeline similar to Saad in his recovery which will be about 3-4 weeks.
The Hawks are running out of lives. Who replaces Strome? There isn't much left in Rockford with guys like Sikura, Quenneville, and Highmore already in the lineup with the big club.
Here are a couple of thoughts on that + other things:
* Anton Wedin would be a guy that I would have been a guy that would have received the first call from Rockford, however, he's out long-term with an injury.
* It gets worse, Philipp Kurashev would have been an interesting choice to get into a game in Strome's absence, however, he was recently murdered by Ryan White who received a 3 game suspension for this hit:
* Brandon Hagel, Jacob Nilsson or Tim Soderlund might be options if the Hawks want to call someone up as more of an emergency. Tyler Sikura is not an option as he has an AHL only deal. He would need to ink an NHL contract for that to happen.
* If there were ever a time to make a minor move to bring in some help, now would be the time, Stan. I'm not talking a major shakeup but with Shaw, Caggiula, Saad and now Strome all out upfront, they could use some reinforcement with NHL experience.
* Hey, maybe the Hawks get lucky and Strome isn't out long-term. Even if it's only a couple of games, expect Kirby Dach to get full centre duties, faceoffs and all. Who ends up on his line? Who knows, but I think putting Kane with Dach makes sense at this point.
* I thought Alex Nylander had a disappointing game. After sitting 3 straight, I would have thought he would have come out like he was shot out of a canon. Instead, he played just over 10 mins and made constant errors with the puck. He was very hesitant at times.
* Dylan Sikura was quiet as well. He played 9(ish) minutes and didn't even have a shot attempt. These guys need to be better with all of these injuries.
* Adam Boqvist is coming along nicely. He had a career-high 23:08 of ice time. He also had an assist which puts him to 1 G and 2 A in his last 5 games.
* Robin Lehner skated on Tuesday and that's a good sign. My guess is he returns either Saturday or next week in one of the back-to-back games (OTT and MTL).
* Stan Bowman held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. There wasn't anything earth-shattering – still thinks this team will be in the mix for the playoffs, no trades on the horizon (but would never share) and hopefully Ian Mitchell signs at the end of the season.
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Hawks take on John Hynes' Nashville Predators on Thursday in another "must-win" game. They're all "must-wins" from here on out.
See ya out there!
TC
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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