Well, here we are.
Monday is likely to be filled with a nice mix of panic from some parts of the Chicago Blackhawks fanbase, while others counter with shouts of “It’s November” and really at the end of the day, it’ll just look something like this:
Regardless of the chaos that the beginning of the week is sure to bring, let’s talk about the events of Sunday night…
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That was it. We just did it right there. That’s how eventual Sunday night’s tilt against #ConferenceIII rival Winnipeg was at the United Center. The Hawks continued their offensive struggles at home, reaching seven periods without a home tally by the time the final buzzer sounded. Can anyone name the starting goaltender for the Jets? Anyone? Onto things of more substance:
3. Patrick Kane
Originally I had this spot reserved for Satchel’s dog, but I was worried it had too much grit and Stan Bowman would try to sign it, so we’ll avoid that possibility here. Kane wins the “he did good things in the possession department so he’s here by default” award for Sunday’s tilt (shorter title on the way). He led the Hawks in Corsi% and had a relative Corsi of 16 for the night, far and away the best figure of any player on the ice. He had a pair of takeaways and proved a real trooper for taking a punch to the head from Dustin Byfuglien that somehow went without a call.
2. Corey Crawford
In a 1-0 result, the goaltender gets here almost by default. Despite the fact that people continue to ride Crawford over the slightest of mistakes, he held up his end of the bargain on Sunday. He allowed a goal to Michael Frolik 20 seconds in and then didn’t allow a goal for the remainder of the night. It didn’t feel like he had a ton of work to do, but he ended the night with 26 saves on 27 shots. It’ll be interesting to see how much of the talk in the coming days is about Crawford’s shortcomings, considering his team’s uncharacteristic inability to score of late. Given that this is Chicago, my money’s on a lot of it.
1. Jonathan Toews
I don’t think there’s anyone that wanted to grab two points on Sunday night more than Jonathan Toews. It could have been because the Hawks were hosting his hometown club, or it may have simply been a matter of Toews being one of the most competitive individuals on the planet (at one point during the game, a loud, audible obscenity that begins with the letter ‘F’ could be heard, almost certainly from the captain). Either way, Toews was all over the place on Sunday. It just seemed like wherever anything happened, Toews was there. He finished with a 63 percent success rate at the dot, had three takeaways for the game, and a Corsi% up near 68 percent. Good stuff.
Randy Holt is a staff writer for Second City Hockey. You can follow him on Twitter @RandallPnkFloyd.