Game Preview: Hawks @ Jets
Things might get ugly.
If you were thinking about relaxing and watching a Hawks game, tonight is not your night.
Game 2 of the regular season takes the Hawks up to Winnipeg.
Today is the first regular season Blackhawks game for CHSN. At the time of this writing, Comcast and CHSN are in the midst of negotiating a deal and it’s not looking good for YouTube TV. Also, there hasn’t been a deal yet and it looks like DirecTV is offering a 5 day free trial.
Or you can fly the Jolly Roger.
The Jets
The Jets are coming off of handing a spanking to the Edmonton Oilers. Connor Hellebuyck shut the Oilers out 6-0. Which means the Hawks get to face a pissed-off McDavid tomorrow night.
Last season, the Jets finished second in the division with 110 points and went on to lose to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.
They enter the 2024 season largely unchanged. They’re deep on the wings and have a decent top pairing on the blue line. But their success lies in the gloves of their Vezina-winning goalie.
While a good team, they aren’t great. Looking past Hellebuyck, you have a team that has some question marks to fill.
Their No. 1 center, Mark Scheifele, is solid offensively but isn’t great on defense. Centering the second line you have Vladislav Namestnikov who is a solid No. 2 center. Elsewhere down the middle, you have a good two-way center in Adam Lowry who plays extremely well on the third line.
While the Jets might not have a true No. 1 center, their left wing is stacked. Kyle Connor is an offensive machine but also struggles in the D-zone. Playing with Scheifele, the first line tends to get trapped in their own end. Cole Perfetti is an excellent playmaker and Nino Niederreiter is a wonderful backchecker who compliments Lowery’s third line quite well.
On the right, you have Gabriel Vilardi who’s looking to have a breakout season and will be on the top line. Nikolaj Ehlers is a speed demon who will create chaos in the offensive zone. Mason Appleton is a defensive winger who is making that third line look more and more like a problem for the Blackhawks. Alex Iafallo rounds out the Jets’ depth on the fourth line.
On the blueline, things don’t look as deep but it’s not bad. Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo make an awesome top pair. Beyond that though, what do we have? The second pair of Dylan Samberg and Neal Pionk consists of a defenseman who’s getting used to top-4 minutes (Samberg) and consistency questions from Pionk. The third pairing has Haydn Fleury who’s good at moving the puck.
The Hawks
It’s going to be a tall order to ask of this team to score a lot. Any night really. But they’re going to have to get the puck past Hellebuyck and a defense that has momentum from their last win. Hellebuyck, by the way, stopped all 30 shots while the Jets gave 20 shots of their own.
The Hawks cannot start this game like they did in Utah. And that was a trend we saw from them last season. Sleepy starts won’t cut it.
The Hawks are also going to have to answer Lowry’s shutdown line. You can expect them to hone in on Connor Bedard and prevent him from generating any offense. Tuevo Teravainen will grab the attention of Jet defenders whose task won’t be as easy as it was last year (which was: stifle Bedard).
Lowry and friends are great on the forecheck and hemmed in the Oilers in their own zone. Bedard cannot get stuck in his end, which is why I’m ok with Nick Foligno being on the top-line. Tyler Bertuzzi isn’t great on defense, so he can stay on the second line.
Lowry’s line also started against the Oilers and they started with a bang. So who does Luke Richardson start this game with?
Our blueline is also going to have a problem with the Jets topline. Their top two lines proved to be fast with non-stop energy against the Oilers. While Scheifele’s defensive weaknesses may get exposed with an inability to get the puck out of their end, they’ll have no problem tiring out our slow defense.
While I’m not worried about Seth Jones or Alex Vlasic, it’s the other veteran defensemen that I am worried about. Both Alec Martinez and TJ Brodie are probably going to have some bad looks. Especially Brodie.
Then there’s that pesky powerplay. Particularly that second unit which still has Pat Maroon playing bumper.
With Arvid Soderblom getting the start, you have to hope for the best. The Jets got 5 past Stuart Skinner before he got the plug pulled. If our defense allows shots to get to Soderblom things might go bad pretty fast.
The best you can ask for is the Hawks to have a close game.
Let’s Go Hawks.