Game Recap: Blackhawks 2 - Bruins 4
Me complaining about the Blackhawks losing 4-2 against the Bruins.
I don't want to do this. With the Blackhawks' 4th straight loss, it sure seems like they don't want to do this hockey thing either. This was supposed to be a season where the Hawks played better than last year. This was supposed to be more enjoyable than last year. And before some internet warrior chimes in and says, "Did you really expect this team to play good hockey?" No. I didn't. I'm just tired of watching a team that isn't fun to watch lose.
The Boston Bruins are a team that could have made for an interesting hockey game. The B's aren't the team they were a couple of seasons ago. The Hawks could have at least played some sort of competitive-looking game against them. Now Boston is on a 3 game winning streak and sure, they have that coaching change. But couldn't the Hawks at least look like a better team?
Luke Richardson made some decisions that are making it really hard for me to defend him staying the rest of the way this season. How do you take a "too many men" penalty when you pull the goalie? Why is Connor Bedard's line getting the DZ draw against one of the Bruins' best offensive combinations when you have the last line change advantage?
We're getting more looks of Tyler Bertuzzi playing with Bedard. How's that looking? Not good. The Hall-Bedard-Bertuzzi line put up an xG% of 26.07% and had a 48.15 Corsi. At 5v5, Bertuzzi had 5 shot attempts and 2 shots on goal. Cool. But this dude looks like an inebriated baby deer whenever he's on the ice. Bertuzzi's play has me really concerned about Kyle Davidson's judgment on free agents. Tyler's cap hit won't hurt the team, but this is a player that Davidson saw enough value in to break his golden rule of short-term deals in the rebuild.
Bedard had 4 shot attempts and 1 shot on goal at 5v5. Do we keep the Hall-Bedard-Bertuzzi line going for another game? Can we bring Teuvo Teravainen up with Bedard? I get Luke focusing on defense because it's safe and makes his record look better. Instead, let's maximize some offense for the sake of Bedard. 4 shot attempts aren't cutting it.
Which brings me to this next "controversial" point. Do we bring Frank Nazar up? The depth at center is laughable. Lukas Reichel isn't a top-six player right now. Maybe ever. Philipp Kurashev on the second line isn't looking too good. He had a 25 Corsi and a 43 xG%. Bringing Nazar in as a center frees up Kurashev to play elsewhere. But is Nazar ready for a 2nd-line center role? Can Kurashev play on his wing and let Teuvo move up to Bedard? I'm thinking it's time to bring Frank up and you can hate on me all you want, Twitter.
Whatever you think of that take, you have to agree that Alec Martinez looked horrible last night. He was on the ice for all 4 goals. Can he get scratched?
https://twitter.com/BenPopeCST/status/1864513372990959952
Don't count on it.
TJ Brodie played better hockey the last few games. He's still Brodie, but he had a 50 Corsi and looked ok in the OZ. Why am I even talking about Brodie.
The Hawks play the Jets on Saturday at 3pm CT. I might do the rare game preview tomorrow. I really don't know why. I really don't.