Follow me @jaeckel
"We've got to know against this team that trying to make plays could lead to trouble," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think the simpler we play it, the more of a direct approach, it can play in our favor. I thought we were standing still too much [after the first period in Game 2] and on the receiving end because we weren't attacking."
He’d be no more (but probably no less) an individual difference maker in the playoffs than the enigmatic Viktor Stalberg. But I suggest Joel Quenneville puts Dan Carcillo in the lineup for at least one of the games in Boston.
It’s not so much what he puts on the scoresheet, but what he brings. Snarl, effort, and an attitude that allows his teammates to play a little bigger and with less fear.
The Hawks won Game 1 of these Stanley Cup Finals in large part because they were every bit as physical, if not slightly more so, than Boston was. A corresponding lack of physicality, and getting pummeled by the Bruins, contributed to their loss in Game 2.
Anyone thinking the Hawks can simply skate past the Bruins, make a few slick passes and light Tuukka Rask up for four goals a game is seriously in need of some Playoff Hockey 101.
What got the Hawks past Detroit and L.A., and a victory in Game 1 of these Finals was a willingness and ability to mete out punishment and get the other team thinking twice. Playoff series are wars of attrition, not track meets or ballet recitals. It’s proven year after year.
Not surprisingly, an awakened Bryan Bickell has been one of the Hawks’ best players in the playoffs, and Andrew Shaw especially thus far in the Finals. The Hawks need more (Carcillo) of this than they do less (Stalberg).
Yep, Carcillo is always some angry reaction away from a penalty. But he’s also playoff-experienced, can play smart offensive hockey and wins pucks along the boards—something the Hawks definitely need more of in Boston.
In short, the Hawks need to get tougher to beat Boston—to have a chance against a Bruin team that could easily be up 3-1 before this series goes back to Chicago—not faster, cuter, or less physical.
No team defenses guys like Stalberg better than the Bruins do—taking away the center of the ice, collapsing on the goalie, pushing finesse players to the outside.
4 of the Hawks’ 5 goals thus far have come by crashing the net, deflections or 2 on 1’s. Going forward, the odds are better for the former than the latter. Bodies in front of the net, winning puck battles, making Boston work in their end.
Carcillo isn’t the be-all, end-all in that category, But he’s the best thing the Hawks have that they haven’t tried.
The Hawks looked to me and many others like a team that was scared as the game went on Saturday. A couple of players started quitting on plays. That trend will continue because Boston will not let up. If we can see it, the Bruins definitely can. In fact, they’ll dial it up on home ice.
The Hawks need an injection of nasty. Now.
Here’s the other thing: I heard last night from a solid source—the same one who tipped me on Patrick Kane’s wrist surgery in the summer of 2011—that many Hawk players want Carcillo in the lineup and are perplexed as to why he isn’t playing.
All for now,
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»
