First off, sorry I couldn't get a mini-preview of the Canucks out on Friday. I started one, but ended up devoting most of my hockey time to a chat that the Adam Jahns, the beat writer at the Sun-Times, was cool enough to invite me to participate in. You can find the script here if you're interested:
Now to the travesty of Saturday night. It's been a bit of a recurring theme this year - Hawks fans get all amped up, only to come crashing down at the first sign of rough seas. I've tried to get caught up in the excitement without feeling that corresponding letdown. So far, I think I've done a good job - I wasn't killing myself over the goalie situation, I wasn't in suicide mode in March, and I never accepted that the Hawks were about to see this season end disastrously early in the opening series.
Saturday night - same. Sure, it sucked to watch the Hawks get their asses absolutely handed to them. It sucked to see the Canucks get the confidence that they can beat the Hawks to go with their already clear determination to do so. It sucked to see Luongo stop all kinds of chances and be a near-pointless 5x3 goal away from the shutout.
Guess what - we knew we'd lose two games this series, and now we've lost one of them. So we're no worse off than we thought we'd be. Of course you'd prefer to win Game 1, get things started right. But the Hawks missed not one, but two chances to take control of the Nashville series early, and still were able to dispatch them without going 7. And who cares if we got blown out? Would you really feel any better if we lost dramatically late? Or if we blew a lead? Or just slogged through a mediocre 3-1 game?
We're down 1-0, it happens. I'm not fretting right now. And I'll tell you what - I won't fret if we lose tonight or if we lose on Wednesday. Down 2-0 or down 2-1 is nothing this Hawks team isn't fully capable of overcoming in this series. That's what I took away from Saturday's game - I was right to believe we were more talented and a better team than the Canucks. We can easily run off three or even four straight Ws against this team, same as we did against the Preds.
What will it take? Well, the same exact crap it took against the Preds. The opinion I had of this series going in was that it was the same as the Preds series, with just a more talented, more challenging opponent on the other side. The fundamentals were the same - we were the better team, we just had to out-work and out-execute them and over a 7-game series, we'd prevail.
Seeing Saturday's game actually just reinforced this for me. We are better than the Canucks. The Hawks took large portions of that game to them. They didn't do much beyond capitalize on the Hawks mistakes every chance they got. To me there were just three things, all big, that happened in Game 1 that can't continue to happen:
1) The Hawks got out-worked. Both first period goals were the result of the Canucks winning battles along the boards to keep the puck in the Hawks end. And those weren't exceptions - it was happening all game in both ends. The Hawks came off a series where they held their own against one of the best board-working teams in the NHL. Yet they opened up against the Canucks and forgot everything those battles with the Preds taught them. If the Hawks are going to win out, they've got to bring the same intensity in those board battles that they had against the feisty Preds.
I will again say it simply - if the Hawks outwork the Canucks, I'd be shocked if we lose this series, no matter what else takes place.
2) The Hawks couldn't bury prime scoring chances. They had all kinds of pressure and all kinds of opportunities early on to score on Luongo, but, just as in the Preds series, they could not find the back of the net. Dumb luck, getting out-worked, missing chances - it all came into play. The one thing that I didn't feel, just like I didn't feel against Nashville - that their goalie was the main reason we weren't scoring.
Luongo is better than Rinne. And Luongo played better on Saturday than Rinne ever did against us. But in neither case did I feel that their goalie was stealing a game or the series. Instead, I felt they were playing like you'd expect out of a plus goalie in the NHL. What made the results look so great was that the Hawks weren't doing what they could have to score.
But, just like the Preds series, I have faith the Hawks can and will do those things eventually. And just as happened in the Preds series, I feel the Hawks will go from making Luongo look great to making him look bad. Remember, after giving up only 4 goals in the first three games, Rinne gave up 13 in the next three. Same goalie, same teams, same settings - totally different results.
That's how the Hawks are - they can make any goalie look amazing (how many times did the Hawks provide a career night for some schmoe in net this year?), but they can also make any goalie look terrible (how many games did we run up huge scores on some big names between the pipes?).
They didn’t do a bad job creating opportunities, but just like in the Nashville series, they did a terrible job burying them. That has got to stop – the Canucks are too good for the Hawks to blow multiple prime scoring chances, especially early, and still hope to win. I can’t point to what exactly is keeping the Hawks from converting, but they’ve got to figure it out and rectify it right away.
3) Niemi was terrible. He didn't make a single big stop to keep us in the game and probably allowed a few goals that he shouldn't have. The Hawks aren't asking him to carry them, but for any team to win at this stage of the playoffs, you need your goalie to get a few big stops. Skaters will make mistakes - your goalie has to be able to bail you out here and there.
Niemi never did that on Saturday. The Canucks didn't have that much pressure on him, there was no excuse for two goals to have been scored in the first. And once he did give those up, Niemi needed to come out in the 2nd and stonewall Vancouver until his offense could get it going again.
Instead, he absolutely folded, bring into question his efficacy. Am I ready to give up on the kid? Nope - he's shown me plenty before and, more importantly, I don't think the Hawks need all that much from their goalie. I'd rather stick with the guy who's been playing relatively well and winning games for us.
But in four of his last five games, Niemi has been mediocre to bad. Nashville was no great scoring team, yet in Games 3 and 5 he let up four each, then let another three up in Game 6. The Hawks O bailed him out in Games 5 and 6, but Niemi left a bit to be desired coming out of that series. The fact that he followed up some shaky outings with another stinker definitely makes you wonder if he really has enough to carry this team to the promised land.
Again though - I'm not giving up on him. He responded to that fluke goal in Game 1 with a shut-out in Game 2. He responded to a mediocre pivotal Game 3 with a shut-out in Game 4. Will he repeat that pattern tonight? Who knows, but I'm giving Niemi the chance before I lose all faith. As long as he's not bad again tonight, I'm going with him in Game 3, also.
In part that's because I have faith in this Hawks squad. Vancouver is damn good, but we're better. We can take the game to them when we want to - we just have to get our heads right. It's frustrating we've had so many games where our heads weren't right, so many stretches where we let up and inferior teams took it to us.
Coaching, leadership, mental, physical, and emotional strength - all of it is in question based on how much the Hawks have struggled in the playoffs so far. This team is better than this - both in the talent they have and the way they can play together. It’s frustrating as could be to watch, but on the flipside, it’s nice to know that they’ve got plenty more left in the tank. It’s why I'm not giving up on this team if they're down 2-0 - they absolutely have what it takes to dig out of that hole.
However, there's no reason to let it get there. The Hawks shouldn't need yet another wake-up call to step it up. I want to see this team come out and take it to the Canucks. Do that, and no one will remember the drubbing of Game 1. All that will matter is that it's 1-1 heading back to Vancouver, a place the Hawks have proven they can win.
.JPG)
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