Tag Archives: Joel Quenneville

Quick thoughts after Blackhawks’ Game 4 loss

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130107_gq_trout_aThis has to be the lowest point of the entire season for the Blackhawks. After going up 2-0 on Minnesota in this second round series, the Hawks dropped both games 3 and 4 in St. Paul and looked absolutely horrible in doing so. If you really sit back and think about it, the Blackhawks didn’t even look good in either of the first two games of the series in Chicago. The Wild outplayed the Hawks in both games, but couldn’t find the back of the net often enough to win. Most people thought the Hawks would win this series (I thought in 5 games), but now it looks like this could be a potential upset.

Here’s what’s on my mind following these last two losses:

  • Where is the energy from the Hawks? This entire series, the Blackhawks have looked less than interested in playing hockey, while the Wild are out there busting their butts doing whatever they can to win each night. If you think back to last year’s first round series with the Wild, the Hawks looked very lethargic there as well. The only difference this time around is that the Wild are a much better team than they were a year ago, and the Blackhawks can’t get away with putting in half their effort each game.
  • What in the world is going on with Quenneville and his line combinations? After losing Game 3, he decided to drastically switch up the lines for Game 4 (Bickell-Toews-Smith, Saad-Kruger-Kane, Sharp-Handzus-Hossa, Morin-Nordstrom-Bollig). Those lines lasted almost 7 minutes in Game 4 before Quenneville decided it was time to switch up the line combos every 5 minutes. He literally did not give any line except the second line a chance to develop chemistry or to be successful. How are these players supposed to feel comfortable out on the ice in hostile territory when they are hopping over the boards with two new linemates every shift? It makes no sense to me. It would appear that Quenneville hit the panic button early in Game 4 and never took his finger back off of it.
  • Speaking of line combinations, I would give anything in the world to find out why Brandon Bollig is STILL in the lineup, let alone professional hockey. What good has TampaBayLightning_LOGOthis guy done at any point this season? He is god awful offensively, he is a reliability on defense, and he has seen less than five minutes of ice time per game this postseason. Why the hell even play a guy who won’t be on the ice for more than four and a half minutes per game? Then when he IS on the ice, he goes and takes absolutely HORRIBLE penalties like he did in Game 4 when he illegally checked Keith Ballard into the glass from behind, thus putting the Hawks on the penalty kill (Bollig had a hearing with the NHL today regarding that hit. I would gladly accept a 15-game suspension for him just to force Quenneville to take him out of the lineup). When you have guys like Peter Regin, Jeremy Morin, and/or Kris Versteeg being scratched each night while Brandon Bollig plays less than five worthless minutes of hockey, one can only wonder what is going through the mind of Joel Quenneville. Think about it. With a healthy lineup, doesn’t a fourth line of Morin-Regin/Handzus-Versteeg sound A LOT better than Versteeg/Morin-Handzus-Bollig? And the Corsi numbers (via extraskater.com) back this up.
  • The Blackhawks top players (Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp) need to step up and start carrying this team again. Sharp scored in Game 4, and Hossa really hasn’t been bad this whole postseason, but Kane and Toews especially need to get going again. Game 4 was arguably Toews’ worst playoff performance of his career (granted he had new linemates every other shift), and he needs to pick it up starting with Game 5.
  • Corey Crawford had been outstanding this postseason until Game 4 the other night when he allowed at least two horrible goals in the second period. He can’t let his Game 4 performance affect his confidence moving forward.
  • Michal Rozsival was putrid in Game 4 against the Wild, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sheldon Brookbank return to the lineup in Rozsival’s spot for Game 5. Brookbank has played four games this postseason, and he really hasn’t been bad in any of them.

I could continue to go on and on, but those are the major things I wanted to mention. The bottom line is that the Blackhawks need to find their energy again and their desire to win, or else the Wild will no doubt pull off the upset here. This is now a best of three series with the Hawks holding home ice advantage, and while they haven’t played well this entire series, I still think they’ll advance to the next round.

Not looking good

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7327531For the second game in a row, the Blackhawks were badly out-played and have left us fans questioning their desire and work ethic. In Boston on Thursday night, the Hawks were shutout 3-0 and never once looked like they wanted to be playing in that game. In tonight’s 5-2 loss, the Blackhawks looked even worse than Thursday for about 35 of the 60 minutes played against Ottawa, a team that won’t be making the playoffs, and a team that the Blackhawks need to be beating at this time of year.

I’m not quite sure where to even begin trying to explain how bad the Hawks were tonight, but here we go:

  • They came out looking OK through the first 5 minutes tonight, but then proceeded to lose all energy, all effort, and all competitiveness for the remainder of the first.
  • This may have been the worst game of the season for the Hawks’ defensemen. Ottawa torched them multiple times for odd-man rushes and breakaways. If it wasn’t for Raanta, this could have been a 7-2 final, at least…
  • How much longer are we going to watch guys like Versteeg, Sharp, Keith, etc., continue to pass up open looks at the net to try and force a pass through traffic? When you’re down 3-0, you need to shoot the puck as much as possible. This did not happen against the Senators.
  • I am beginning to wonder if Quenneville is losing his mind a little bit. At what point will he see that Bollig and Handzus are bigger liabilities to this team than they are assets? Yeah, Bollig will “fight” now and then (big help that was tonight….not), but he is terrible offensively and just average on defense. Handzus’ only upside is his work on the PK. The rest is flat out bad. Nothing a guy like Morin couldn’t do better.

Maybe it’s that time of year where the playoffs are so close, yet so far away and the Blackhawks are losing focus on the remainder of the regular season. I hope that’s the case, because this effort cannot continue. Multiple times over these last two games have I caught myself saying “they aren’t even trying,” or “this team has no desire to win.” It shouldn’t be that way, not with a team this talented, not with a team this experienced, and not with a team that represents a very proud organization. It’s on Quenneville now to get their heads back into place.

Joel QuennevilleSpeaking of Quenneville, like I mentioned above, his decision making is becoming extremely infuriating. Peter Regin has done nothing but play his butt off since he joined the team by crashing the net, winning board battles, and effectively backchecking the opponents. Yet, Q benches him seemingly every other game in favor of Handzus. Near the end of tonight’s game, it was Regin going hard to the net prior to Seabrook’s goal that may have thrown Anderson off, thus causing the goal. This is what the Hawks need more of, but Regin will probably sit in a sky-box Sunday in Pittsburgh instead. In the case of Brandon Bollig, why Bowman ever gave him a 3-year extension I will never understand. He is not very skilled, he’s a defensive liability, and he makes some bad decisions. In a playoff series, I’d MUCH rather take my chances with someone like Jeremy Morin who can create offense and hustles.

Teuvo Teravainen was not in the lineup tonight after playing in each of the team’s last two games. The Blackhawks still have not hinted one way or another as to what their plan is with Teravainen right now. My gut unfortunately tells me they’ll keep him under 10 games played to avoid using up the first year of his contract. I don’t agree with that move, but I can see that happening.

As a few side notes, Antti Raanta appeared to hurt himself during the first period tonight after falling awkwardly on his right leg. He played the rest of the game, but this is something to keep an eye on. Also, Niklas Hjalmarsson was blatantly kneed by Chris Neil near the end of the second period and looked to be in a lot of pain. He too continued playing, but then appeared to have been held off the ice for most of the third. Hopefully he doesn’t miss any time. Andrew Shaw was called for spearing late in the game and received a game misconduct. By rule, the NHL has to review the incident to determine 130107_gq_trout_awhether or not further penalty(s) are warranted. Lastly, Matt Carey made his NHL debut tonight. Unfortunately for him, it was not a memorable debut. Cody Ceci’s shot from the point in the first period deflected off of Carey’s stick before going into the net past Raanta for the Sens second goal. Then Carey took a bad delay of game/faceoff violation penalty early in the third that led to Ottawa’s fourth goal (a dagger).

With the way the Blackhawks are playing at the moment, I don’t see any reason why the Avalanche couldn’t put them away in just 5 games in the first round of the playoffs. Granted, the Hawks are without Patrick Kane right now, but still.

They better show up in Pittsburgh Sunday night.

Blackhawks fall in St. Louis

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183849298_slideComing into this one, many people were saying that these were arguably the two best teams in the Western Conference. Some were even saying that this is the year the Blues bring home their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Well after watching tonight’s game between the Blues and Blackhawks, these might be the top two teams in the West, but I’m not on board with calling the Blues Stanley Cup favorites.

It’s no secret that these two teams dislike each other. Their past battles against one another have gotten ugly a number of times, and tonight featured a little bit of that as well. Sheldon Brookbank and Chris Stewart dropped the gloves just a few minutes into the game, and it looked like there were a few more fights that were in the developing stages before the refs intervened. Adding to the ongoing bad blood between these two teams was Maxim Lapierre when he hit Andrew Shaw from behind into the side boards. He was given a two minute minor, and the Hawks scored on the ensuing powerplay. All that hit did was reinforce the fact that the Blues are loaded with a bunch of clowns who try to hurt people without caring at all. Lapierre has been known to illegally hit guys his whole career, and he is showing no signs of stopping. Barrett Jackman is also another standout loser on that team.

Tonight I thought the Blackhawks looked quite good actually. I thought they played well enough to win the game. They had a number of quality scoring chances in this one, especially early on, but Jaroslav Halak was on top of his game and kept the Hawks to just two goals. Patrick Sharp looked like he was destined for a goal in this one, but never found the back of the net.

The Hawks got two more powerplay goals tonight. That’s four in their first three games to start the season. If you compare their powerplay right now to the way it was during the playoffs, it is much better today.

The penalty kill remains a weakness up to this point. The Blackhawks allowed another powerplay goal against tonight, bringing that total to five over these first few games. Last season, the penalty kill of the Blackhawks was among the best in the league. The loss of Michael Frolik is really being felt early on in this season. Of the Blackhawks that were traded away or signed with another team this past offseason, Frolik seems to be the biggest loss.

What makes tonight’s loss so frustrating is the fact that the Blackhawks played a really good game for the first 59 minutes, and they probably should have been winning had it not been for Halak. When you play that good of a game on the road in a hostile environment, you can’t mess up like they did with 25 seconds to go and cost yourselves the two points.

Jonathan Toews had the puck to Halak’s left looking for either a pass into the slot, or a shooting lane to the net. He ended up trying to shoot and his shot was blocked. The problem here was that Brent Seabrook abandoned his spot on the blue line and decided to pinch down towards the net. When Toews’ shot got blocked, the Blues quickly transitioned from offense to defense and Alex Steen led a good rush up the ice with two other Blues players. Because Seabrook pinched on the play and wound up way out of position, only Duncan Keith was back on defense to try and defend a three on one. Steen never passed the puck and took a wicked slap shot that beat Corey Crawford for the winning goal with 21 seconds left in regulation.

Joel Quenneville was clearly upset at how this one ended based on his words to the media after the game. He called this a “brutal loss,” and said “you can’t make a mistake like that.” Jonathan Toews said that they were “robbed of two points” tonight. I’d have to agree with both Coach Q and Toews.

Moving forward, the biggest thing for the Hawks is going to be tightening up on their PK. They need to start getting more successful kills. One way to eliminate powerplay goals-against is to stop taking so many penalties. The Blackhawks were one of the least penalized teams in the league last year, and that was a huge reason for their success.

Aside from that, they really have looked good through the first three games. Tonight was definitely a tough one to swallow, but you can still take a lot of good things from tonight’s loss. Without a doubt, the Blackhawks will be more than ready for their rematch with the Blues next Thursday night back at the UC.

Thanks for reading.

Blackhawks tie record; Canucks and their fans never change

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162159760_slideThe Blackhawks’ win on Tuesday night over their rival Vancouver Canucks marked their 16th straight game to start the season with at least one point. That ties the all time NHL record set by the Anaheim Ducks in the ’06-’07 season. While most people would assume that the Blackhawks would be celebrating this accomplishment, the general attitude of the Hawks and their fans following last night’s game was pretty subdued. This was due to the fact that not only did the Hawks blow a 2-goal lead in the last 4 minutes of regulation, but Marian Hossa had to be helped off the ice after a blow to the back of his head.

The game started off with a very fast pace. Within the first 10 minutes of play, a total of 5 breakaways had already taken place; 3 for the Hawks and 2 for the Canucks. Incredibly, no goals were scored. Then with just over 13 minutes gone in the first, Daniel Sedin lit the lamp with a soft backhander that somehow found its way through Ray Emery’s legs, giving Vancouver a 1-0 lead. The score would stay that way heading into the second period.

Again, the second period started off with a fast pace just like the first, but with no breakaways for either side. After generating a few good scoring chances, the Hawks finally beat Corey Schneider to tie the game. Patrick Sharp scored his 4th goal of the season after a nice feed by Kane left Sharp open to Schneider’s right for a wide open slap shot. The puck found its way right through the five-hole and into the back of the net.

About 7 minutes later and on the powerplay, Marian Hossa scored on another slapshot from the opposite side of the zone to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.

Then, only about 4 minutes after Hossa scored, he scored again for his second of the game. In typical Marian Hossa fashion, he won the puck battle along the boards in the corner to Schneider’s right, fought his way to the front of the net, and somehow was able to sneak the puck into the net between Schenider and the post. He literally had maybe only 3-4 inches between Schneider and the post, but he was able to get the goal. This increased the Hawks’ lead to 3-1. It would stay that score until late in the third.

With a little under 3 minutes remaining in regulation and the Canucks on the powerplay, Alex Edler beat Ray Emery with a slap shot from just inside the blue line to bring Vancouver within 1 goal. Then, a little over a minute and a half later and with Canucks’ net empty, Kevin Bieksa’s slap shot beat Emery again to tie the game and send it to overtime.

No one was able to score in OT, even though the Hawks outshot the Canucks 5-1.

In the shootout, Patrick Kane and Andrew Shaw (yes, Andrew Shaw) both scored for the Hawks, and only Chris Higgins scored for the Canucks giving the Blackhawks the W.

However, aside from the Blackhawks record-tying start to the season, the biggest story from last night’s victory was Jannik Hansen’s hit on Marian Hossa. With only 1:10 gone in the third period, the puck was deflected high into the air around center ice, and both Marian Hossa and Jannik Hansen went to try and “grab” it.

620-hossa-blog-thumb-620xauto-275678Hossa, with his head looking up at the puck and his hand ready to catch it, was elbowed in the back of the head by Hansen and fell face first to the ice. He would remain on his stomach for a good 2-3 minutes before getting helped to the dressing room. He would not return. After seeing the replay, it is clear that Hansen was not going for the puck and that he intentionally hit Hossa in the back of the head (he has a hearing with the NHL at 2:30 CT today). Whether or not he actually tried to injure him, we’ll never know. But it is clear that Hansen was not going for the puck. I happened to be at the game last night, and when the replay of this was shown on the scoreboard, there was not a fan in that stadium who didn’t want to personally “greet” Hansen after the game.

Following the game, Joel Quenneville stated that Hossa seemed “okay,” and that they’ll know more today on his condition. Coach Q also declined to comment in any detail about Hansen’s elbow to Hossa’s head.

As for the Vancouver side, their head coach, Alain Vigneault, tried to argue that the play did not deserve a penalty (Hansen was assessed a 2-minute minor for roughing) and that only when Toews went out to talk to the refs did they call the penalty. When asked if he thought Hansen would receive any discipline from the NHL, Vigneault answered “No chance.” Hansen told reporters after the game that “it was a hockey play,” and that he didn’t even realize he hit Hossa until the refs told him. He also said that he was “just going for the puck.” Yeah right…

Over the past 4 years, I along with every Hawks fan, has grown to hate the Canucks for their non-stop, cheap-hitting, dirty play. Whether it is Burrows pulling Keith’s hair, Daniel Sedin elbowing Duncan Keith in the head, Torres launching himself at Seabrook’s head, or now Hansen elbowing Hossa in the head, it is always something else with those low-lifes. Their head coach might be the biggest reason for it, too.

Alain Vigneault doesn’t seem to think that anything his players do warrants a penalty or any discipline. Whether it was Torres’ hit on Seabrook, Sedin’s elbow to Keith, or Hansen’s elbow to Hossa, every time he says that his players did nothing wrong. There is a theory in the sports world that states “a team plays the way they are coached.” That might not be anymore evident than in the case of the Canucks.

It is extremely hard for me to not let my emotions fly on here when talking about the Canucks. I absolutely despise everything about that team and their coach, and I feel that I am being polite when saying that. Even their fans are some of the worst in sports.

1297188843628_ORIGINALRemember when the Bruins won the Cup 2 years ago, in Game 7, in Vanvouver, and the Canucks’ fans lit the city on fire? Remember when Zdeno Chara was handed the Stanley Cup by Gary Bettman and Canucks’ fans proceeded to throw cups of beer in Chara’s direction? After Hansen’s hit on Hossa last night, the Vancouver fans used Twitter to express their pleasure with the hit, calling Hossa a “wimp,” an “actor,” and saying that they were “glad” Hossa got hurt on the play. It’s a good thing those people live 2,000 miles away from Chicago and in a different country, because I don’t think I could handle it if they lived any closer, and I would be embarrassed to call myself an American along with them.

I could go on for hours about the Canucks and their fans, but I won’t.

All in all, the Blackhawks again blew a late lead and ended up in overtime. They have got to  step up their late-game play and win these games in regulation. At the same time, I won’t complain about their historic start.

Let’s all cross our fingers and hope that Hossa is okay. Here’s the replay of Hansen’s hit:

Joel Quenneville Receives $10,000 Fine

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Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was fined $10,000 earlier today for his comments during an interview following Tuesday night’s Game 3 between the Hawks and Coyotes.

When asked about the hit on Marian Hossa, Quenneville responded by saying, “It was right in front of me and all four guys missed it. The refereeing tonight was a disgrace.” It’s hard to blame him for being so upset that no penalty was given to Torres on the play. The closest referee to the play was only about 10 feet away from the hit, and even flinched when Hossa came flying towards him. No penalty was called.

Here’s my question. How is it that Joel Quenneville gets a $10,000 fine for verbally criticizing the referees, but Shea Weber only got a $2,500 fine for slamming Henrik Zetterberg’s head into the glass? Doesn’t what Weber did seem a bit more severe than criticizing some referees?

The fines and suspensions that have been handed out this season by the NHL have rarely made sense. Hopefully next year there will be a bit more consistency coming out of the league’s disciplinary office.