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Where Have the Hawks Gone Wrong So Far? |
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Normally, if the Kings were down in this series or were going through a bad stretch I'd be telling you all the things that are going wrong with them. It's my duty as an armchair bench boss so to speak.
But right now it seems like things are starting to click for LA. On the other side of things the Chicago Blackhawks, a fearsome opponent in many regards, seem to be stumbling when it matters most.
Now I preface this by saying I am not expert on the Chicago Blackhawks, and I haven't watched them nearly as close as the Kings in these playoffs. However, I can point to several things hindering the Blackhawks so far when it comes to this series in my eyes. It's still early on, we are only three games deep in the series. This could turnaround on one bad bounce, one timely goal, or one standout performance. Outside of Game 2 these games have been very tight. That still doesn't mean there aren't obvious concerns moving forward if you are the Chicago Blackhawks.
This will likely ruffle some feather, but agree or disagree this is where I see the Hawks stumbling a bit.
1. Speed
It's maybe the most obvious, and to me the most unexpected thing about this series.
The Kings are not, and have never been known as a fast team. However, two players have given Chicago fits when it comes to speed: Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli. Ya know what, throw Jeff Carter in that mix also being the centerman on that line. The second (third?) line of the LA Kings is demolishing the Blackhawks and there is no sign of that letting up. Pearson and Toffoli have been excellent at bringing speed through the neutral zone and stretching the Hawks defensive capabilities.
Look at the second goal scored by Tyler Toffoli last night. He slips by Oduya and Hjalmarsson after a pretty wide open exchange in the neutral zone from the Kings 2nd line.
Look at the Kings 4th goal on Wednesday night's contest as well. Even though the play was finished in a flukey fashion, Carter and Pearson's rush up ice spread the Hawks thin defensively. This caused a bit of mayhem in who picks up who and Toffoli was left unmanned in a prime scoring area.
The Kings 5th goal from Wednesday...
These are just examples that have led to goals mind you. There have been plenty of opportunities created by speed that the Kings have missed on.
Normally when you think wide open games with odd man rushes, you're thinking it benefits the Chicago Blackhawks. Not this year though.
Looking at the makeup of the Blackhawks roster, it really isn't fit for speed outside of the top lines. Kane, Sharp, and Hossa are pretty explosive players who can thrive off the rush, but outside of that you aren't going to see a track meet with many others. Bollig? Smith? Kreuger? Handzus? This touches on my next point of depth, but right now take a look at the way the Hawks line up in terms of mobility in the bottom 6.
Saad - Shaw/Regin - Versteeg
Bollig - Kreuger - Smith
vs.
Lewis - Stoll - Williams
King - Richards - Clifford
Defensively as well, is Rozsival really capable of handling outside speed like that? What about Oduya, who has looked dicey at times in the last two games. Leddy? Seabrook?
Player for player the Kings are a much faster team on the bottom lines outside of Dwight King. Anyone notice how the Blackhawks have been absolutely gassed come third period play in these games? A lot of that has to do with the Kings out skating them. Also, you can't even really say that these are the King bottom lines right now with the way that they roll four lines the way they do. The overall team speed and Quenneville's utilization of matchups has pushed the Blackhawks bottom lines very hard so far.
2. Center depth
You could also say forward depth overall, but are you going to find four better centers in the NHL than what the Kings are fielding right now? Kopitar, Carter, Stoll, Richards. That's two all-world centers in Kopitar and Carter, and then two very strong centers backing them up in Stoll and Richards. All four have been incredible on the draw, all four can play 200 feet of the ice, and all four are capable (Okay maybe not Stoll) of taking over a shift.
You love the matchup of Toews-Kopitar if you are the Hawks, and that matchup has worked well so far. Toews has kept the Kopitar line quiet, and has contributed a bit on the offensive side of things. After that is where it gets dicey. Michal Handzus is currently the Hawks second line center. Recently injured Andrew Shaw slotted in at 3C last night, with Marcus Kreuger jumping in the 4C spot. Just on paper alone those don't seem even. No offense to any of the Hawks players but would you take Handzus/Shaw/Kreuger over Carter/Stoll/Richards?
Here is a look at the matchups from Game 2, and Game 3 stayed relatively similar to that (replace Regin with Shaw.)
When you look at it player for player, they just haven't matched up well down the middle of the ice so far. How those 3 depth centers for the Kings have commanded the center of the ice has been huge.
3. Corey Crawford and everything else
Crawford was the X-factor coming into this series no doubt. He's a tremendous goaltender but there have been a few he'd want back in the last two games no doubt. While his teammates have left him out to dry on a few occasions, there have been some leaky goals and bad angle goals that have snuck in. Arguably, you could say that Crawford was the main reason that the Hawks got by Minnesota, and you can see how much he means to this team when he is NOT in the game. With the Kings and Quick it feels like it's mutual at times. The Kings offense will bail Quick out on an iffy game and vice versa. In the goaltending matchup so far you'd have to say that Quick is beating Crawford, and frustration level for No. 50 has been apparent. He still is a major X-factor, and if the Hawks wish to get back in this series he will need to get back into the form he had against Minnesota.
Also, and it seems to always be this way, special teams battles have fallen in favor of the team in the lead. Los Angeles is 3-for-9 on the powerplay while Chicago is 2-for-10. While it's not a huge contrast, it has been a difference maker so far. The Hawks did struggle at times during the regular season with the penalty kill, finishing up the year 19th in the league. In the post-season though they seemed to have locked it down pretty well. Until the Kings series, the Hawks had only allowed 4 powerplay goals on 46 attempts. The Kings powerplay has been tremendous thus far and it continues to be a timely difference maker. The Hawks, much like the Kings in the last series, need to stay out of the box if they want to turn their fortunes around.
Finally, Quenneville hasn't had a lot of answers so far. Maybe it is by virtue of personnel, maybe it is by virtue of style. He's relied heavily on line matching as you can see from the chart above. Live by the sword, die by the sword. His matchups have been strong in the areas of Toews/Kopitar and Hjalmarsson/Kopitar, but outside of that there have been question marks. Question marks that can't really be answered outside of juggling your lines. To me, at this point, if you're juggling around personnel it's not going to end well. I feel that when you start relying on a singular matchup you can dig yourself a deep hole. Sutter and the Kings somehow constantly get teams to play on their terms by forcing matchups. JQ has been deadset on playing certain pairings against certain lines. This happens in every hockey game to an extent, but it has been interesting how Sutter has dictated those matchups even when it comes to not having last change. Small details, but unless JQ can find someone capable of holding a matchup like Toews has with Kopitar, I don't see how the Hawks can handle the matchup game on the bottom part of the roster. That's just my feeling though.
P.S. Is anyone in Chicago going to file a missing persons report on Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane? I haven't seen them in a while...
If you want to scream and yell at me on twitter you can do that. Still a lot of hockey to be played. Game 4 might be a different Hawks team, and this could go back to Chicago knotted up at 2. That's why they play the game
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