The Blackhawks Pound Toronto 7-2, And Scott Darling Has One Of The Saves Of The Year
Incredible save by Darling. Pays to be a 6’6″ athlete who can move. Lost an edge on the initial push, and still had the ability to get across and make a diving save. Safe to say that the Blackhawks have the healthiest goaltending situation in the entire league. Both guys playing well, and both probably playing above their Cap hit value.
The Maple Leafs, by design, are the worst team in the league right now so beating them 7-2 at home isn’t much to get excited about, but ending a three game losing streak without Hossa in the lineup is always a positive. The Hawks are in a good position here with only 22 games left on the schedule, and only four games left before the deadline. They can afford their annual early Spring slide and still be in good position for the playoffs.
–Patrick Kane had four points last night, including this laser
Ridiculous snipe. He’s a surgeon. He can put the puck wherever he wants. Reimer dropped his blocker a little too far and bam! Its in the back of the net. Goalies basically have to be perfect to stop Kane right now, because he’s not going to stop himself. Goalies can’t have bad fundamentals or angles because Kane won’t miss the net and bail them out. If you make a mistake, you’re dead.
–Kane now has 82 points. So if he never scores another point, he will still be a point per game player. #Math. He also has 18 more points than Jamie Benn who is currently 2nd in the scoring race. He’s on a different planet this year. It’s incredible.
–I got a little heat for ragging on Teravainen last night so I want to clear something up….I don’t hate Teravainen. I don’t really hate anyone. I’m just disappointed in his overall offensive output. Yes he’s still young, and yes I give him credit for being pretty responsible in his own end. Having said that, a guy with that much talent, getting the amount of ice and powerplay time as 86, should produce more consistently. The Hawks need more from him. What has always separated the Hawks from other teams is their depth. This year they have been carried by Panarin-Anisimov-Kane. Come playoff time when the competition gets stronger, chances become more rare, and teams chase matchups more vigorously, the Hawks will need balanced scoring. Teravainen has to step his game up and be apart of that equation if they’re going to repeat. So no, I’m not going to get excited about a powerplay goal that put the team up 6-0 in the 3rd. People were acting like we should throw him a parade because of that goal when he hadn’t scored in 9 games. Teuvo has been fine. They need him to be better than just fine.
–This guy is still waiting for his high five
The next two weeks leading up to the deadline should be interesting. Lots of speculation about what Stan Bowman will do at the deadline. Top 6 LW(Andrew Ladd), depth winger(Dale Weise), or help on the back end? One thing we know is that Stan is going to do something. He’s got $2.6M burning a hold in his pocket and an opportunity to improve the team trying to repeat. It’s good to be us. #DynastyReign