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First, I will take nothing from the Florida Panthers, a solid young club with size and speed, who are apparently well-coached by Gerard Gallant.

But the last two nights, the Blackhawks have looked as bad as they have all year. And all things considered, it's not a huge surprise. Last night ended a stretch of 12 games in 20 days, and a handful or more Hawk players are under the weather.

That said, the Panthers and the Lightning played strong, tenacious defensive games and both made it hard for the Hawks to do anything but cycle the puck in their own end, or work the puck endlessly around the permitter in the offensive zone, looking for the perfect shot or pretty pass that was never there.

The Hawks are 12-2 in their last 14 games and have shown me a thing or two in that time. My personal belief is this team is not far from being pretty special.

A couple of things to take from the last couple of games, in which the Hawks were outscored 6-1 and outshot 65-45:

First, the Hawks have historically had a hard time adjusting to a dump and chase game when the opponent forces them to play it. Year after year, especially in the playoffs, you watch the endless 1-on-4's by Hawk forwards that result in turnovers just inside the blue line and wonder: how long is this going to go on?

To my eye, this year's model might be the worst in that regard—this team seems to rely heavily on flashy passes and stick handling on the perimeter. Which is great most nights, especially in the regular season. Come playoff time, different story, when most opponents can and will try to do what the Lightning and Panthers did the last two nights.

Second, very few Hawks were getting pucks to the net last night. Marian Hossa seemed to have Panthers stapled to his posterior all night and was able to get in close and sort of weakly slap a couple of pucks into Roberto Luongo's pads.

Other than that? Pfffffffft.

The Hawks must learn to adjust when the space between the circles and the blueline is jammed with opponents. Time to pack a lunch pail and go to work.

Two Hawks who I thought showed up to work last night were Richard Panik and Jiri Sekac, both of whom clearly had something to prove to the coaching staff and teammates. Let's see if that lasts.

The Hawks have a couple more games before the long All Star break, and a nice opportunity to rest up.

As far as trade rumors, I heard one yesterday that caught me so off guard, I will hold off on relating it here, as it contradicts some there things I've heard. But i am digging for more on that.

All for now, I will have a Blues preview tomorrow.


JJ

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