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Hawks Drop Home Opener + Shake Up Lines |
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The Blackhawks remain winless.
The good news is… 80 games are remaining on the schedule. Or at least that's what all of the players and coaches are saying.
However, the Hawks don't want to be using that same narrative for too long. It's not going to fly when "we've still got 50 games left… tons of time."
Thanks to our good friend Al Cimaglia, we can point to the Hawks needing some urgency in October:
Yes, last year's St. Louis Blues were one of those teams but we know that they were a bit of a unicorn.
Thursday's game saw the Hawks play some solid hockey in the 1st period, only to have it all unravel in the 2nd half of that game.
The 5-4 loss to the Sharks was almost predictable seeing this San Jose team were 0-4 and had the benefit of an emotionally charged team as they welcomed Patrick Marleau back to the fold.
Jeremy Colliton started to mix the lines up throughout the game on Thursday. He continued this roster shakeup at practice on Friday.
Here's what he tossed out during a spirited practice:
Shaw – Strome – Kane
DeBrincat – Toews – Caggiula
Saad – Kampf – Kubalik
Smith – Carpenter – Perlini
Keith – Murphy
Maatta – Seabrook
de Haan/Koekkoek – Gustafsson
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My thoughts on the above and projected lineup:
* Spark plugs – the Hawks brought in some higher energy and character guys in the summer and it looks like Coach Colliton is looking to spread those guys out.
Just like Quenneville used to like having a bigger winger on each line back in the day, Colliton might be on to something by having puck-hunters and energy guys like Shaw, Caggiula, Kubalik and Carpenter/Smith on separate lines.
* Toews and Kane – the break up needed to happen; with 19 and 88 on the ice together, they've been bleeding shots against. The Hawks have had 8 scoring chances for (3 high-danger) and 30 scoring chances against (14 high-danger).
* Shaw will be Shaw – If you can forgive 65 for the stupid penalty against Dillon, Andrew Shaw was the Hawks best player on Thursday. He scored 2 goals and was all over the ice. He is now going to be on a line with Strome and Kane as he looks to continue to rev up the home crowd every time he gets on the ice.
* Keith and Murphy – I know this pairing hasn't worked out fully in the past, but it kind of has to right now. If these two can build some chemistry (and quick) it would really help the backend because the Keith-Gustafsson pairing has been a disaster.
* de Haan returns? – It sounds like de Haan will make his return on Saturday night. He will have the joy of trying to figure out what Erik Gustafsson is doing.
* Kirby Dach getting closer – Dach took some shifts on the wing with Toews and DeBrincat. Could 77 start out on the wing? It's possible. The way things are progressing, I would say Dach will get his first NHL game next week at some point.
* Robin Lehner, whatchu got? – Colliton hinted that Lehner will be the starter on Saturday. This makes sense. Crawford has been anywhere from OK to above-average at times, but the reality is he's given up 9 goals in 2 games. It's time to see what Lehner's got.
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That's all I have for now.
See ya out there!
TC
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Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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