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What's Wrong With The Blackhawks? Who saw this coming? |
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Is this the Predators of Hawks?
Two games in and I don't think a single expert saw this coming...at all.. If you had the Predators winning both games in Chicago than you should apply for a job at TSN. If you had both games as shutouts than I think you should buy TSN and run it.
No one saw this coming. In fact the only place I saw any of this coming was the goalie/special teams predictions I did last week. Based on my theory that the playoffs come down to goalies and special teams the Predators had the edge. In fact, the Hawks looked anything BUT dominant when you viewed those three categories..
The Hawks goaltending ranked 11th in the NHL this year, but their power play ranked 19th and their penalty kill...24th.
That gave them a average of 18th combining the three categories.
The Preds weren't exactly blowing anyone out of the water in the three categories that I felt mattered the most in the playoffs...The Preds Goaltending was 15th. Power Play:15th and Penalty Kill 16th...That made for a 15.33 ranking...better than the Hawks 18th, but not good compared to the 16 teams in the playoffs who ranked like this...
1. Washington 3.66
2. Boston 5.66
3. Columbus 7.66
4. St Louis 7.66
5. Minnesota 8
6. Anaheim 8
7. Edmonton 10
8. Montreal 10.33
9. Toronto 11.33
10. Calgary 11.33
11. Pittsburgh 13.66
12. NY Rangers 14.33
13. Nashville 15.33
14. San Jose 16
15. Chicago 18
16. Ottawa 18.33
Now, all of us would look at this and say, "All the regular season stats don't matter when it comes to Chicago...." And we'd probably be right......but "18" is a big number...
In Comparison to their Cup Runs
2017: GA: 11th, PP:19th, PK:24th, AVG : 18
2010: GA:6th, PP: 16th PK 4th. AVG:8.66
2013: GA: 1st, PP: 19th, PK 3rd. AVG: 7.66
2015: GA:2nd, PP: 20th PK 10th. AVG:10.66
Their Cup years were NOT exactly glowing numbers like Washington's 3.66, but way better than 18. One common theme that runs through this is...The Hawks Power Play is ridiculously bad for how good this team is and how much talent they have...If you remove the power play and just look at the PK an Goals Allowed stats though...this year there are definite cracks... especially on the PK side of things...
And a bad Penalty Kill is not just a bad penalty kill. A team afraid to take penalties is forced to play a different game...more conservative and afraid to take chances or get caught up in a play that takes them out of position...
And you have seen that in the first two games against the Predators...To an outsider, had you not seen the games just the result of two shutouts, you would expect the Hawks to be firing 40 shots on goal and Rinne to be standing on his head. Pekka has been outstanding, but the shot totals in each game have not been ridiculous out of proportion...
This is about one team playing more on the edge because they aren't afraid to make mistakes and the other team playing conservative hockey and not finding the extra gear needed in the playoffs...This series is NOT over by a longshot. The Hawks have been down 2-0 before and stormed back in playoff series...The Predators know this alto well.
But the combination of Rinne now inside their head and their fear of making mistakes has put the Hawks in deep trouble here...
Coming up...
Are the Leafs ahead of schedule?
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