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The last time we saw the Blackhawks, they were skating off the United Center ice with their tails between their legs after being beaten by the lowly Colorado Avalanche. So for the last four days we've had the pleasure of stewing over that inexcusable loss to the worst team in the league. Nothing like leaving a nice big, old lump of coal in your stocking there. With the Christmas break over, the Hawks started the final week of 2016 with a Tuesday night match up with the Winnipeg Jets. Its a busy week for the Hawks, as they'll close out the year with three games in four nights, leading up to the Winter Classic on Monday in St. Louis. After seeing that loss on Friday, it wouldn't shock me if the Hawks get caught looking ahead to that date with the Blues.
If we thought Friday night was bad, well the joke is on us. In the early stages of the first period, the Jets made the Hawks look silly. The Jets outworked, out-skated, and out-hustled the Hawks in every aspect of the game. It didn't help either, that in between his turnovers, Vinnie Hinostroza put the Hawks shorthanded in the opening minutes. As the period went on, the Hawks did have some nice looks, but they were all of the one and done variety. The Jets on the other hand, pounced on every chance, and had the Hawks in a 2-0 hole after twenty minutes.
In the second period, the Hawks had spurts of life here and there, but much like the opening twenty minutes, had trouble sustaining it. Though it wasn't one of his best outings, Corey Crawford did make some key saves in the period to keep the Hawks in the game. Just before the midway point of the period, the #AK72Line struck, and Artem Anisimov cut the Jets lead in half. As was the case with the first period, the Hawks ended up with a double digit shot total, but could only score once and would trail 2-1 after forty minutes.
The third period saw the Hawks actually show some signs of life, but it was nothing to get too excited about. Early on, Brian Campbell had a horrendous line change that allowed Drew Stafford in on a breakaway, that he would bury, to extend the Jets lead. As the period went on, the Hawks had a handful of chances, and some actual sustained pressure, but it wasn't enough. Around the midway part of the period, they wasted away their third power play of the game, and the writing was on the wall. Despite outshooting the Jets 10-8, the Hawks wouldn't get any closer, and dropped their third straight game by a score of 3-1.
- Artem Anisimov returned to the lineup, reuniting him with Kane and Panarin on the #AK72Line. Anisimov also had the lone Hawks goal on the night.
- For the majority of the night, the 3rd had the most sustained pressure for the Hawks. Once again, the line of Rasmussen-Kruger-Panik is proving to be a solid little combination.
- Michal Kempny and Michal Rozsival (shouldn't have been) were healthy scratches again tonight. I'm pretty sure the United Center catering staff is picking up the Czech language well.
- Marian Hossa was put on IR and might return for the Winter Classic. This is a sight we're all too familiar with. I'm talking about the Blackhawks playing in outdoor games of course.
- Forsling and Hjalmarsson were the only two Hawks that were a -2 tonight. I think its time Forsling takes a seat in the press box because he was noticeably bad tonight. I wouldn't mind seeing Rozsival out there. I mean you can't blame this slump on him.
- The power play sucked up the joint and was 0 for 3 on the night.
- The Hawks had 18 shots blocked by the Jets tonight. Shows what kind of a lazy effort is put forth when you can move the puck to find open shooting lanes.
- Vinnie Hinostroza didn't have a great start to the game, neither did the Hawks for that matter. Sandwiched between his turnovers in the first period was his penalty he took just over a minute in. That kind of play will go over well with Q.
- The Blackhawks got owned in the first two minutes of the game worse than CM Punk did in his MMA debut. The Jets skated circles around the Hawks for the first five minutes of the game. Somehow the Hawks did manage to kill off a Jets power play in that time frame.
- I'm still trying to figure out what the hell Gustav Forsling was doing on the Jets second goal. If you're going to block a shot, block the fucking shot. Don't sissy, half ass it and screen your goalie. For Christ's sake even Kempny would have blocked that.
- Is there anyone still happy that Brian Campbell came back to Chicago? Way to half ass it back to the bench and leave Seabrook and Crawford out to dry on Stafford's goal.
- I saw a fancy stat lover complaining on Twitter about Pat Foley bragging about the amount of hits the Hawks had in third period. I believe it was something like this "Yes Pat, that's because the Hawks haven't had the puck." Please explain this theory to me. PLEASE. Because the only answer I ever get is "hits are a flawed stat." Oh blow it out your ass. All your fancy stats are beyond flawed. Stop shoving that bullshit down my throat. Last I checked tonight, the team that won, had 32, and they seemed like they had the puck an awful lot. Sorry hockey is violent and hitting is a part of the game.
- Andrew Desjardins played a whopping 6:52 tonight. Talk about bringing shame to Jeff Shantz.