No, It's The Children Who Are Wrong
The Hawks were far too passive for two periods. Lucky for them, the Canucks are crappy enough to only require one period of competence.
I was just about to get upset. George is gettin' upset!
For the past two or three weeks, I've warily eyed the Hawks increasing passivity and wondered if this season was turning into exactly what I feared, i.e. Jeff Blashill would be more interested in collecting empty standings-points to bolster his rep instead of focusing on a process that will benefit the Hawks more when they're actually a serious roster. The first two periods of Wednesday night in Vancouver were just about getting me to the boiling point.
To be clear, there is no reason to fear the Canucks. They stink. They know they stink. They play like the know they stink and they'll never get better. While they do have the premier puck-mover in the league in Quinn Hughes, and he plays a ton, there is no reason to not hound every other d-man on their roster. Tyler Myers is still suiting up there, for fuck's sake. And the Hawks, finally, actually have a forward roster that is full of speed and at least decent enough forecheckers. Bedard, Burakovsky, Moore, Greene, Nazar, Mikheyev, these are all at least representative speed-wise and should be able to moderately annoy anyone trying to retrieve a puck. Also, the Hawks offense needs turnovers. Right now, they can only create on the rush or in the chaos of a turnover or mistake. And yet, we saw all of this:
(I'm cheating a bit on this one, as it was off a change, but still...)
All of these are in the 1st period. I could include just as many or more from the 2nd, when the Hawks gave up 20 shots. The Canucks aren't so woebegone (though they're close) that they can't make some stuff happen when allowed to simply waltz into the offensive zone time after time.
I was wondering what was the point of having this wonderfully mobile blue line if all it's asked to do is back up? Shouldn't the Hawks be trying to force things? Speed things up? Isn't that the idea? How are they going to get Rinzel and Levshunov and Vlasic and even Grzelcyk up into the play if they're just allowing teams soft entry (we hate that, don't we ladies!) and having to defend all the time? WATER WEED DUNE HAIR?!
Then the Hawks turned up the pressure in the 3rd period and scored five goals and won relatively easily.
That doesn't mean I'm totally at ease, here. My hunch is that Blashill is still leaning conservative, but he's not so dumb to not see what was in front of him. Clearly, after the Hawks gave up 20 shots in the 2nd, he could work out that Plan A was in the terlet, and he sent his charges to get after the Canucks in the 3rd simply to change something, anything. But the response is obviously better than mindlessly sticking to some keep-it-close dogma. To wit, Mikheyev's goal, the 3rd and basically the clincher, came after he and Moore harassed Myers and Hughes from the neutral zone all the way behind their goal and forced a turnover. This can happen more often!
Especially Friday against an actual woebegone team in Calgary, it'll be important to see how often the Hawks just cede possession and try to drop back into this passive 1-1-3 with basically one guy ahead of the red line. There is literally nothing to be afraid of on the Flames. The Hawks are, and I know this has been a unique situation the past few years, THE BETTER TEAM. Wouldn't it be fun to act like it?
However, it would be a waste to not revel in beating the Canucks for once, because beating Vancouver remains a lot of fun. They're now behind the Hawks in the standings. While it won't stay that way, it being like this a month into the season is still righteously funny.
All right, let's clean up the rest.
-As far as the defensive zone coverage, it seems like Blashill is amending it slightly, to be less man-t0-man at times. There was way more switching and guys staying put, especially on the points, last night. Maybe just a one game thing, maybe just trying to adjust to what he sees with his team. We'll keep watching.
-It was clear that Bedard was a little annoyed at getting his ass kicked in his hometown the previous couple seasons. Five shots on goal, and the empty-netter that I still don't think he should be on the ice for, but with a two-goal lead instead of one...I'll let it go. His 1st period breakaway was an vibrant demonstration of his improved skating, as he chased down a loose puck from the other side of the ice that at first he it didn't look like he'd get to. Is he favorite here?
-Connor Murphy's ice time has become something of a story. He was sixth of the seven Hawks defense at 5-on-5 last night, continuing the trend. The 7-D look isn't helping, and perhaps it's time to stop it, but that's not all that likely. Murphy is in a rough spot, as he would be the perfect partner for Kevin Korchinski, as he's a right-handed free safety on the roster. But Korch isn't here, and Grzelcyk is the only left-handed puck-mover. Crevier, Grzelcyk, and Murphy seem to be the ones who get moved around, while the other four stay a little more rigid in their pairings.
-As for Grzelcyk, the effusive praise he gets from the broadcast is a little over the top, but he's been fine to good. He did get completely worked in front of his own net for the Canucks goal that was ruled out, and that's his major bugaboo. But he seems to be the only d-man with either license or the chutzpah to actually skate with the puck in his own zone. So there's that.
-Let's enjoy Tyler Myers magic on Bertuzz's hat trick goal. Turns the puck over, sentencing a tired Vancouver unit to more d-zone time. Points at no one for a teammate to cover, tries to block a shot in his own crease, then lies down eight inches in front of his goalie to try to block a shot that's coming from 20 feet away. Just marvelous.
