Blackhawks Blow Big Lead Again, Lose To Sabres In Dramatic Fashion
The way the Blackhawks’ three-game road trip ended made it feel like the entire swing out west was a failure. Any time a three-goal lead evaporates in less than four minutes it hurts. But even with an overtime loss in Vegas to close out the trip, the Hawks brought home five out of six possible points.
They got home in time to watch the Sabres play in New York on Sunday night before flying to Chicago to take the ice at the United Center. And the Blackhawks took advantage of the tired Sabres early.
Taylor Raddysh has been a nice addition to the offense since he came over from Tampa, and he continued producing. He made a nice pass to Calvin de Haan to set up Chicago’s first goal.
Dominik Kubalik poached the second assist from Jonathan Toews with a slight deflection of the pass intended for Raddysh.
A little less than six minutes later, Sam Lafferty put together a shift for his personal highlight reel. He trucked a guy in the corner, got up and got back into position to redirect a shot perfectly past the netminder for Chicago’s second goal of the night.
Jake McCabe and Tyler Johnson picked up the assists on Lafferty’s goal. Johnson was activated out of concussion protocol before the game and took the place of Kirby Dach in the lineup; Dach was out sick (non-COVID).
Three minutes after the Lafferty goal while the Blackhawks were on a power play, Toews made a vintage Toews play and finished for his tenth goal of the season.
Kubalik and Philipp Kurashev picked up the helpers on Toews’ power play goal. With Kubalik registering two points in a period, I immediately went out and bought PowerBall tickets.
After 20 minutes, Chicago had a 3-0 lead. Both teams were credited with eight shots on goal, but Kevin Lankinen wasn’t tested much at all.
Seth Jones was the lucky trailer just 81 seconds into the second period and sniped his fifth of the year to extend Chicago’s lead to four.
Things felt pretty good with a four-goal lead…. right?
Victor Olofsson scored a power play goal for Buffalo at 4:50 to end Lankinen’s shutout bid.
Olofsson cut the lead in half with his second goal of the period at 10:24 and suddenly what appeared to be a solid effort for the Blackhawks was falling apart at the seams.
When Kyle Okposo scored almost four minutes later, the Sabres had all of the momentum and the Blackhawks were on their heels. Head coach Derek King opted to not use his timeout after the third goal. But his team simply stopped making good passes once the fourth goal was scored and the Sabres were making them pay for careless puck control and lazy defense.
The Hawks held onto the lead, but it was only one when the horn sounded to close out the middle stanza. Buffalo out-shot the Hawks 15-5 in the period and out-scored Chicago 3-1.
It felt all too familiar after the third period in Vegas on Saturday afternoon. Great efforts wasted because this team doesn’t seem to know how to play 60 good minutes at a time has become an exhausting trend this season.
Less than two minutes into the third period, Seth Jones saved Lankinen’s tail as he was well out of the net and Jeff Skinner circled the wagons and had a wide open cage into which he could have tied the game. Not an ideal start… and less than one minute later Blackhawks legend Vinnie Hinostroza tied the game.
And even the Blackhawks’ own Twitter account was embarrassed.
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 29, 2022
At 9:40 into the third, Laffety perfectly baited Hinostroza into a retaliatory whack while the official was watching and Chicago got a power play. On the PP, Alex DeBrincat gave the Blackhawks the lead again.
Patrick Kane and Strome picked up the helpers on DeBrincat’s 38th of the season.
Chicago held the lead for almost seven minutes, but couldn’t finish regulation. With 2:14 left, Alex Tuch tied the game. Reese Johnson lost track of him and the rest of the Hawks were staring at the puck instead of… you know, playing the game.
And with 69 seconds left in regulation, Strome was caught hooking Jeff Skinner on the doorstep (he might have taken away a goal) and the Hawks went short-handed in the closing moments of regulation.
With ten seconds left in regulation, the Sabres scored about as lucky of a goal as you’ll ever see. Tage Thompson’s stick shattered; his shot went wide of the net. But it bounced back and caught Lankinen on the back of the skate and went into the cage for the go-ahead goal. Thompson was skating to the bench to get a fresh stick when the puck went in.
Lankinen went ballistic, smashing his stick on the post. He didn’t get much help in the final 40 minutes, but he needed to make a couple saves to keep his team in the game.
And the Chicago Blackhawks found yet another creative way to lose a game.
The Buffalo Sabres rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, 6-5.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 29, 2022
Prior to tonight, the last time Buffalo successfully overcame a 4-goal deficit was Jan. 21, 1989 (a 6-5 OT win over the Bruins in Boston). pic.twitter.com/6OrnErqj5u
Chicago’s defense was atrocious in the second and third periods, and the offense that looked great for 22 minutes completely disappeared.
On a positive note, Kane has had one helluva month.
Most points by a #Blackhawks player in one calendar month:
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) March 29, 2022
29- Bobby Hull (December 1964)
29- Stan Mikita (February 1970)
28- Denis Savard (November 1987)
27- Savard (January 1986)
26- Patrick Kane (March 2022 via 1 assist vs BUF tonight)
26- Hull (Dec 1965)
26- Mikita (Dec 1967) pic.twitter.com/8FIof2yZcu
Just garbage ! Shocking ! Pros ! All those guys shouldn’t be paid ! I won’t be coming to watch ! POPS 4
There’s not too much left to say. I was hoping that Dach would play. He would be going against Cozens who was picked 7th in the 2019 Draft. I was hoping, back then, that the Blackhawks would’ve taken Cozens. But, oh well. Cozens had 2 Assists tonight. Of course, Bowman probably should have taken Byram Bowen. Then the need to overpay for S. Jones would not be there. Would Sillinger be in the Indian Head Sweater? Just dreaming of what could have been. Kinda like this garbage game.
Hey!!! Nick Olczyk, the tired excuse that these are young players is b.s. He annoys me to no end with his excuses. The coaching sucks, the team has no real structure, and they can’t play for 60 minutes.
What was fun was seeing Hinostroza and Jokiharju. They should probably still be here. Although, if Bowman doesn’t trade for Nylander, then the Blackhawks don’t have Lafferty. But, the team sure could use the hustle of a Hinostroza over a Kurashev or the oft injured T. Johnson.
Having Crawford and then MAF was such a luxury. I suspect that this team, minus MAF, would have been vying for the #1 overall pick…unless…well CBJ. Because 2019 and Byram Bowen. Stan Bowman…you are such an incompetent. I’ll leave it right there.
Hahaha ha, That was my reaction after the last Buffalo goal.
Would like to do this with the kids on the ice not the vets. Would be a learning experience. Gus already knows how to backhand a puck around the back of the net so the opponent can stop it and put it in front of the net to score. I want a kid to do that so he doesn’t do it again. Gus doesn’t know how to learn. The kid will keep it on the forehand and clear it. Thus learning.
Now we must see who gets the better of the Lafferty for Jukiharu trade .
I’ll leave on this note. Hahaha ha.
Lankinen has to go. This guy is a horrible goalie. This team has no “killer instinct”. NONE!
This group should be ashamed of themselves.
JR Roman
Lafferty got 1 goal and Jokiharju 1 assist …no one win the trade so far let see in a few years Henri is 5 years younger.
Starting to like Raddysh more and more . Love Hagel but iff Tampa plays him 11 minutes/ game like in the last 5 games he will not be happy at all .Hagel wants to play not look at the game . Plus Hawks have 2 first round . That’s a lot when I think of it now. I was so in shock to see my favourite player that I didn’t look at Raddysh at all ,but now I see what he can bring to the team iff he continues to play the way he does now . Future will tell us in a few years . Like the $ Jones trade .
“Lankinen,s Shutout bid” Ha Ha Ha. Give me a break. He has no business being in an NHL net. He proves that eventually in each game he plays. Onto the reason that we have gathered here. This team reeks from the head down. What do they do at their practices? It certainly has nothing to do with defensive zone coverage,winning puck battles,or physical conditioning. Maybe less “Optional Skates” are in order. The silver lining to these fiascos and multi goal collapses is that this coaching staff will all be gone including all the silly talk of Marc Crawford taking over. The Buffalo Sabres have a much brighter future then our beloved Hawks. A young tired and initially disinterested team got their legs back and physically manhandled our well rested Hawks. Watch some of the Sabres young players. Thats what fast twitch looks like. Just when you think things our at their worst its onto Florida to tangle with the Panthers. Yikes. That has 8 to 0 written all over it. Hopefully Delia gets the net for a few games in a row. Nice hissy fit by Lanks to finish the night off. You are not an NHL Goalie. No shame in that. BYE.
One of the commenters here mentions that you can count on Lank to give up 4. Giving up 4 would be progress lately. The good news is that we are starting to get some clarity on the goaltending situation. It is beginning to appear that there is a good chance that neither of next year’s goalies is with the organization at present. The Hawks got outplayed, but an NHL goalie cannot give up 6.
The Sabres’ goalie was horrible too. Probably even worse than Lank.
There are some things worth watching. We’re all pretty much on the Raddysh bandwagon right now and he’s playing very well. Excellent potential.
The odds of King coming back have to be very low. If he is stating publicly that the players won’t do what is asked of them, which he did after the game, how can he be brought back?
The only word to describe tonight is “fiasco.” It is what bad teams do, but this was worse than most bad teams. I wonder how many teams have come back from 4 goal deficits this year before our beloved Hawks gave up this beauty tonight. 1? 2? Zero?
After Lank embarrassed himself by not covering the right side of the net from a routine bounce off the board, am surprised he didn’t smash the stick on his head. Poor reaction ability as he watched another slow motion one go in as well.
This has to be a complete rebuild and so far KD has made more good trades than Blowman made in more than ten years.
There is something VERY WRONG, top to bottom in this organization – It just feels off kilter and I can’t put my finger on it. Ownership, upper management, the coaching, the players, heck the announcer merry-go-round just have a general pall hanging over all of it. No quick fixes but if your making the commitment to watch this live, I commend you.
Hawks need a coach that would tear the locker room apart after the 2nd period fiasco. And it would be great if the veterans would show a little leadership when things are heading south . Goalie didn’t have a good game but sure as hell didn’t get much help from anyone. Good grief Charlie Brown!!!
Don’t need to worry about Lankinen or any other young goalie saving the day, this team will destroy him with these kind of defensive efforts. Blame the goalie lol, he was the only one who gave any effort after it was 4 0, including the ones who impressed you in the 1st. All 18 skaters should be ashamed.
New poster boy for pent up Hawk frustration on this site is the ‘Lank’-as Ian said it runs deeper.
When he’s gone a new one will magically appear,
Emily’s Dad, the goalie would likely gladly havr taken not much help if they didn’t do as much as they could to help the Sabres. Only mention S. Jones bailing him out, c’mon S.Jones misread a bounce off the boards that Skinner played easily to cause that. What about the deflections either into the net or to Sabres players in slot, or leaving the back side uncovered time and again. Lankinen made more than his share of big saves to give this team a chance, just the team in front of him didn’t give him a chance. Pathetic.
What a disaster Gus still is. A freakin turnover machine.
Seriously! Why in the F’k are we playing DeHaan, McCabe, Stillman, and Gustafson? Why aren’t Vlasic, Regula, Mitchell, and Phillips in the lineup with the Jone-ass Brothers! I don’t care about the Rockford Files! Why isn’t Reichel up here? Why do we have to watch Borgstrom suck some more? Why is Hardman not here – why do we have to watch Kurashev suck some more? Most importantly, why do we have to watch Derek King coach and suck some more? WTF – get rid of these undisciplined, talentless, and mentally incapable backwoods hockey blokes out of the organization! F’K!!
4-goal Lankinen lives! Rotten egg has hatched on this guy. Has had 3 season to prove his worth, or in this case, lack of.
New GM has some big holes to fill, starting with a head coach.
Goaltending is 2nd.
Defense is 3rd. Need 4 defensemen to play behind 4 and 82. (5, 6, 56 and 44 are not solid NHL caliber defensemen, night in an night out.).
Thinking Captain Serious will opt out of this mess in the Summertme.
Thinking we are all in agreement that King is replaced for next year. I believe we are far enough ahead not to be bottom two. Would like to be at bottom 6 and no closer because of ping pong ball.
Only reason I see vets playing is youth not getting 10 games under their belts.
Let’s look for a coach. Can we go with an experienced coach.
Roy
Quinn
Tocchet
Julien
Maurice
Torts, let’s ask Jones how it was to play for him. Or do we look at assistants.
Vellucci
Lambert
Muller
Zettler.
Think that is now the most important decision for ’22-’23 season and going forward
Whoever mentioned the Tampa assistant is spot on. Just look at the disciplined approach that Raddysh and Katschouk had when they arrived, that told me everything! That is our guy! Too bad they have already been ruined by this undisciplined band of marauders.
I’m with you Ian…..without Lanks they lose this game by 4. Tokarski was way worse
than Lanks and he only gave up 4 because the team played in front of him. High
danger chances were 14-2 in favor of Buffalo, 14-2….the 18 skaters in front of him
simply suck.
Kane-Cat-Strome had a great month and I’ll be they didn’t play NHL 500 hockey
this team top to bottom simply sucks
@Tommy Ivan……why why why, those questions never get asked let alone answered.
All the pundits, analysts are strictly yes men and girls for the mighty Wirtz’s, ask a
difficult question and you get the Lazer treatment.
Listening to Foley/Edzo/cohen was blackboard scratching bad, and Boyle/Chelios, urgghhhhh
Given where the organization is at with scandal etc Torts as coach just isn’t going to happen…however it might lead to S Jones and his ridiculous salary asking for a trade which would be a win haha
Lankinen is not the answer, but I don’t think he deserves all the opinions he’s getting on this board. There were some very unlucky goals and turnovers last night. That wasn’t all on him by any means. And honestly I think he and Delia are about even in skill level.
That game was a great showcase of KD’s trades. Lafferty, Raddysh, Katchouk, and 2 firsts is starting to seem better than Hagel, Nylander, and 2 fifths
Sorry guys that seem to be letting Lankinen off the hook. His play on the last goal alone destroy anything good that he had done. He is constantly off his angles and is technically a disaster. He doesn’t have it. Let’s move on and solve all of the teams problems letting no one off the hook.
TimW, I’ll gladly trade the 1 goal you can cherry pick on him for the 5 that were on the team in front of him hanging him out to dry, no problem with that.
I would keep Lanks. Shows some flashes at times. Catches pucks with easy. So his eyes on the puck are good. If it’s angles then get Waite or Tretiak to teach him. Again we want to tank without tanking. If you don’t know how to swim jump in the deep end and you will learn. Give Soder and Lanks 41 games they will learn how to tend. Lehner was great when Buffalo was bad. Went to Isles and was Veizna runner up. We will know what we have in Lanks next year.
Gus is an offensive defenseman. Why is he out there trying to protect a lead?
Next thing looking forward to is draft day. Predicting not one but possibly 2 draft day trades. July 7th in Montreal can’t come soon enough!
Lank can be overly aggressive at times and on the winning goal he was already sliding back to the other side instead of following the puck – it’s a tough play but still
On the the wraparound that Seth stopped again Lank was overly aggressive on Skinner – that was Caleb btw that misjudged the puck off the boards not Seth
That said the Hawks gave up chance after chance and Lank did his best to keep them in it – far from the worst Hawk out there but at present he looks more like a back up not a starter – so if you want to tank for Bedard resign him
The rest of the team has way more to be ashamed of than Lank – it’s hard to pick out one or two players there were so many blatant errors and bad decisions but special mention has to go to the D who other than Seth cannot make a play can’t make a good first pass can’t skate it out can’t win a board battle can’t separate man from puck can’t get out of the goalie’s way – the forwards are almost as bad
It’s next level embarrassing
Some of this is coaches fault – I agree that a completely new staff is needed – if KD fired JC I can’t see why he’d bring King back
Question – we don’t want the #1 or 2 pick this year do we because then CBJ gets our #1 next year in what is supposed to be an excellent and deep draft?
Chevrier, Passmore….. Gary “Suitcase” Smith….
im calling out that weak captain of ours. leaders need to lead and this clown of “C” needs to go. he was no leader, seabrook and hossa was back in the years. johnny boy cries more than crosby.
Two of the best centers of the last 20 years. I, too, find the complaining he does way over the top, but if he’s not there we don’t win 3 Cups, maybe none. A clown-wow.
Lank was great many time but one mistake and some guys want to trade him ..reminds me when DCat had a ordinary year and many guys wants to trade him for a third round pick ..hahaha.
For those who thinks that Lank had 3 years in NHL yet ..you are wrong Lank is playing in his second year now for a total 57 games (not 3 years ) ( not 2 years ) ( 1 1/2 year ) .before he had 40 games in 11/2 year in Rockford. Désinformation is a lie . The kid need time and support not lies and bashing.
Hockey Is a sport and they play ( it’s a game ) don’t need to try to disrespect and judge a player because he gave a bad goal . He his doing his best because he love PLAYING Hockey .
Wrap, a week overall draft doesn’t mean there isn’t a prize at no. 1, Shane Wright is a superstar waiting to happen too, not as flashy as Bedard. Wouldn’t be upset at all with him. He was granted exceptional status like Bedard. In Ohl he is in pretty good company with McDavid, Ekblad, Taveres as being granted exceptional status. Only Sean Day and Joe Veleno of the Q league seem like a stretch for that status only others who have been given it, so far. Wright would fill that top C role nicely, has decent size to handle Nhl, he sure looks elite in all areas.
Yes it was C. Jones who let Skinner go on the bounce off the boards, typed the wrong initial in. Seth had a few weak clears and giveaways on his plate too last night, though he has the ability to at least quite often clean up his own mistakes himself, others mistakes too.
Gander- Post of the day
bring in Torts– so $ Jones – begs to leave… I am all in!
Look at the bright side
This will be a great roster / lineup — in 2023/24 – for competing for last place/lottery picks
Coaching! KD has to find someone other than King, who apparently can’t make in-game adjustments worth a damn
A team that consistently can’t hold a multi-goal lead, or that can dominate for half a game and then be an absolute s#%^show for the other half is not really a player problem
The on-ice ghosts need to be coached to specialize skills, meet minimum expectations AND get enough ice time to work on them
Patience/coaching for Lanks too – needs to make the mistakes and refine technique instead of being thrown out with a team D that can’t clear a puck for minutes on end; even Crow used to take some bad angles and lose his net fairly often, if my memory serves me well
This last part of the season is likely audition time for youngsters and vets as the obviously aggressive Kyle Davidson and staff gear up for off season maneuvers. Coach King is their to advise, but his job looks to be similar to trying to herd cats.
Of course King is very likely not back. Nor are some of these players. Decisions abound so I don’t get too worked up about these games now.
I enjoy how some lines are playing well offensively and it’s good to see Toews show flashes of old when his body seems to allow it.
Davidson et al have to address the defensive and consistency albatrosses for this team to progress. Probably starts with coaching choice and further clarification of direction, with no questions open, about the next 2-3 years.
I am liking the play of Raddysh and continued presence of Lafferty around the puck. Those are good points.
Next year may be a whole new deal, off ice, on ice, marketing, you name it.
Ian – you make a good point about Shane Wright
Is there someone ranked #2 who has elite potential because 2023 draft has multiple elite looking players?
Though I’m not gonna complain if Hawks get Wright
It’s obvious none of.you have played goalie. Lank did fine, with the crap team in front of him, they gave up on Lanks, a couple goals were deflections, off Hawks skates and so on…..bottom line is the Hawks have no heart, and took buffalo for granted. What a huge view into how bad coaching and on ice leadership is.
Stillman was also a human lane cone last night. This entire Defensive core needs to be blown up. Seth Jones would be the lone top 6 holdover. His brother would be about 7 or 8 on a real depth chart. If there are not any great deals out there maybe Murphy would slot in at 5 or 6. So DeHaan,Stillman,McCabe,Gus have to be moved out. I would guess that Kubalik,Borgstrom,Kurashev,Tyler Johnson, and maybe either Strome or Dach,for a real makeover and shock value, will also be moved. 2 New and improved Goalies and an entire new coaching staff have to be found and we are on our way to a new identity. Sit down with Toews and if he wants no part of the rebuild, ask him to waive and get a deal done in the offseason. I would be all in for Torts to take over,take it easy everyone,I know that the Wirtz regime would never allow that type of strong willed personality into their organization. The Torts/Mike Keenan type is what is needed to restore discipline and structure to a meandering rat hockey type of team and organization.
Beer League, you are absolutely right. I personally have never played goalie beyond the pee wee level and am no expert. Played alot and watched alot of Hockey in my life and would like to think that I can detect weak goaltending when I see it. Maybe Lankinen just needs a solid group such as the Canes,Bolts,or Panthers in front of him for him to show differently. Who knows? Hope we find out after we obtain those types of sold groups but I have been wrong before.
You need a goalie who can make key saves at key times in a game .
Lank can not do that , he lets goals in at keys moments though .
Wrap Cooley seems to be no. 2 by alot of scouts. A strong skating C from US development program, I believe committed to U of Minnesota, offensively good, strong 2 way player good at fos.
am i the only one who feels toews skills as a captain have been quite overblown? with the roster of self starters the hawks had during the expanse of the three cup winning seasons i think a koala bear could have been an effective captain. especially with guys like seabrook, hossa, and keith standing in the shadows providing leadership as well.
blowing leads and being unable to finish out games as the hawks have done all year and especially in the last two games begs the question is anyone listening to toews, is he providing any leadership, or is he quite simply not the quality of captain who is able to boost up a mediocre team to play to it’s best abilities on a game in game out basis? sure seems to me that captain serious is much more invested in dealing with his declining abilities than he is in being the leader a mediocre team needs to perform to their best abilities.
Everybody can relax about last night’s loss: the real reason that they lost was I placed a bet on the Hawks when I was up North and jinxed them. Lost $40. Won’t happen the rest of the year. Thought it was in the bag and then I quit watching and went back into the casino.
Hawks29 suggesting Toews has not been a great captain simply shows your complete lack of knowledge of team sports…take a look at his record with the Hawks, World Juniors, Team Canada and the multitude of hockey people that talk about his leadership abilities…oh wait, they have no idea what they are talking about.
Honestly the people on here criticizing him make me sick
The studio crew mentioned that there is no structure. Structure first and then address the needs of the defense. The 18 upfront just aren’t committed to playing defense. Too much chasing around, stick poking dumping it out to center. Coach Q would be appalled that this team has the indianhead on their sweaters. Blame the goalie, blame the captain but lack of defensive structure and commitment is right up there.
Hawk one – agreed and then question is who is at fault – surely the fault lies with both players and coaches but to me a good coach can teach defensive structure to most although not all players
King is not up to the job so the introduction of structure starts with a new coaching staff – some players like Gus will never learn and some players like McCabe simply don’t have the necessary skills to execute the system even if they do learn
Get a new staff who can install structure and figure out who is going to be able to play in that structure
I’ve mentioned before how Raddysh and Katchouk both know where to be on the ice – Tampa has a good coaching staff – that’s what the Hawks need
Fans , posted today in sports sections across Canada were the comments at the GM meetings ! “ the issue was once again brought forward of the handling of the Chicago Blackhawks ,Kyle Beach Scandal “ ! This was the item that The Wirtz family wanted to forget and move on ! Well , folks , it surfaced again ! That Wirtz family should be ashamed at the way they handled it ! Disgusting ,unfortunate as I think there will be a lot of hockey families in Canada that will not have anything to do with the Hawks ! As a Canadian I’m just shocked at the attitudes of a pro sports organization ,the Chicago Blackhawks ! POPS 4
@wrap correct. Time for a coaching change. Disciplined structure needs to be a thing. Time for King and his predecessor to move aside.
chuckie83
maybe the day will come when you learn to advance your opinion without disparaging others. it is a skill most of us acquired by the time we hit high school age.
although you disagree with me the possibility exists that toews might not be as good a captain for a lousy team as he has been for championship teams. it is a much tougher road to hoe to motivate a bad team than it is to motivate a championship contending team. does it appear to you that the only category lacking on this team is physical talent? this is a lazy team that rarely competes for sixty minutes, is not physical, and often times loses leads in the third period. none of those are characteristics of a team that has solid leadership from coaches or players. and the season would have been much worse than it has been if maf wasn’t in goal saving their asses for 45 games.
HAWKS29, Your description of this current Hawks team was spot on. Who are the voices on that bench? I watch NHL games on a nightly basis and observe much more interaction and instruction going on then I ever see with the Hawks. They are like a bunch of strangers that got together for an open skate or a pond hockey pickup game. Everyone just does their own thing with no accountability or structure whatsoever. I have seen all the bottom tier teams play the last couple of months and none of them operate as poorly as this Hawks team. Lots of work to be done here with many hard decisions to be made.
Tim W-now that’s a valid position and argument. They keep putting fingers in the dyke. Hopefully Davidson makes some good decisions. There have been some sacrificial lambs lately-but eventually a culture, style and community needs to reappear. Until then complaining over the minutiae that is the Hawks (Lank, McCabe, Coach King etc.) seems like an exercise in futility.
Dach – hoping that he was actually a healthy scratch from the lineup against Buffalo…and he was told to watch Lafferty’s energy, commitment, and positioning away from the puck. But, I doubt it – they’ll still throw him out there on the 2nd unit to stand still, wave his stick, in a feeble attempt to kill penalties. The guy needs some kinda urgent wake-up call, because his fancy hippity-hop crossover skating in not enough in the NHL.
I bet if it was MAF in goal, and was fooled by that broken stick change up, bounce off the boards and off his skate, y’all would be saying that was a tough break and it happens….so shut the f up about that….we all know you all think MAF cannot make mistakes, but any other goalie is a POS when it happens. Beyond that, this team needs a leadership change, because they have none at this point in time. Toews needs to leave, take the A off of Kane, Dcat, and see who is the real leader on the bench, ice and in the locker room. Because it’s none of them. And King is Collision 2.0……his expression on the bench is one of a deer in the headlights…..lights are on but nobody is home.
wasn’t 32 here in during back end of 2020? Sporadically in and out of lineup behind Crawford?
wasn’t 32 here in 2020-21, wilting down the playoff stretch when the teams played within the division?
Isn’t 32 here now in 2021-22, giving up very soft goals all season long, and just recently letting in 11 goals in two games?
I am not good at math but that is 3 seasons.
So much for disinformation, as some state. (yeah yeah, they will point to total number of games played. That and a bag of chips will get you a bag of chips.)
Lankinen 1st Nhl game was a couple of weeks into a shortened season last year, 2021. But the silly talk continue