The Isles ought to cure what ails, but I can remember them dropping their annual game in '09 and '10, the latter being especially frustrating because it was the first game back after the Olympics.

Look, I dunno who the hell is even on this team past John Tavares, Kyle Okposo, and Evgeni Nabokov. They're on like their fifth-string goalie or something crazy. Go forth and win for the love of God.

Have fun at the game, Bigfan!

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MATT MOULSON? Who the fuck is that?

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

I like hockey, but don't know shit about it. Should we be worried about this Hawks team? I know it's a long season, but this team looks really flat and like they have the SC Hangover.

Hockey elite, please enlighten me.

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RFDC thinks I'm retarded.

I wouldn't be... an early season slump is pretty normal... If this continues through December then you should get concerned

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Montador's just exclamation-pointed an extremely shitty night for him

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Not a mult.

Wow, was that a pantsing of Jurcina by Tazer, or what?

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Not a mult.

I was starting to wonder when the real Montoya was gonna show up.

Crawford sure is playing like a career AHL goaltender lately. I'm getting sick of this guy. Keith, too.

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I haven't watched a lot of Blackhawk hockey this year but what the fuck are these assholes doing?? I know Crawford has been bad but has the defense been this awful all year?? Stop giving the damn puck away, dickheads.

Hawks are in Uniondale tonight, which was a bit of a house of horrors in '09 and '10. There's something about the old Eastern Conference Road Game Against A Team You Only See Once that makes the Hawks lay eggs. The less said about this season's engagement with the Hurricanes, the better. I remember them laying a massive egg against the Senators in the Cup season, too.

However, since this is the rare occasion that we have a pair with the Isles, the Hawks might take them more seriously. And they should! In their last three games, they've scored four on the Hawks in a shootout loss, five on the Stars in a win (Matt Moulson with a hat+1), and five on the Lightning in another win. This is remarkable only because the Islanders were averaging something like a league-worst 1.96 goals per game heading into the first Hawks game. Now they're up to, I dunno, 29th? Ahead of the Kings?

Let's hope the roof of the Nassau Coliseum doesn't collapse during the game and kill everyone. This is a semi-real concern: thing is leaking all over the place, shutting down entire sections of seats.

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At first I was like

Then I was like

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Ray Emery starts for the Blackhawks this eve for a slumping Corey Crawford. May be only the beginning for the man who was supposed to be the Blackhawks' backup goalie when the season started.

We're dicked if Emery's our #1. You saw the shootout. No lateral movement.

SCH linked to a good article about Crawford's sophomore slump and the sophomore slump of goalies in general:
http://thegoalieguild.com/2011/12/corey ... ic-entity/

As bad as Crawford has been this year, the gold standard of a solved goaltender in this era is Steve Mason. Spectacular rookie season in 08-09, dragging a weak-ass Columbus team into 7th place and a first round sweep. Since then, he's been terrible, and is practically on his way out of the league.

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Other than the shootout, CH, Ray Emery did a good job in relief of Corey Crawford before running out of gas at the end Monday vs. Phoenix.

And other than the assassination, Mrs. Lincoln had a good time at the play.

Emery played well enough, but he went what, 10/10 over 40 minutes? Most teams aren't going to average 5 SOG a period because they're getting categorically outworked, and most teams aren't as bereft of NHL scoring talent as the Phoenix Coyotes. Emery can be a pretty good spot-starter if he's hidden in the weak links of back-to-backs and three-in-fours. If we're relying on him on a regular basis, we're looking at finishing 8th again, if that. Crawford absolutely has to get it back together for this team to contend. That or we get a new goalie altogether. The Hawks as presently constructed are not an elite team.

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I hope this is nothing more than Coach Q sending a message that Corey Crawford better start playing like a #1 goalie again.

That's my hope too, but if the book is really as out on Crawford as people seem to think it is, then it's not going to be as easy as him "playing like a #1 again." I mean, Crawford doesn't need a benching to know he's shitty; a red light goes on over his head every time he fucks up, and he's fucking up a lot. It could be that the flaws in his game are such that now that everyone knows just what to exploit, there won't be much he can do about it short of reinventing himself as a goaltender. It might just be that when you play in the minors for five years, you are a minor leaguer.

It could also be that Montador and O'Donnell are a goatfuck on defense.

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Defense giving up WAY too many opportunities.

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Not a mult.

WTF is Bolland doing?

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Not a mult.

A shame, 'cause Emery's playing the game of the season...of course if the Hawks didn't have their heads up their asses, Emery wouldn't have to make so many saves.

My Jim Rome moment of the night.

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Not a mult.

Good night for Sharp and H[list=][/list]

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Very good night for Sharp and Hossa, not so great for anybody else. Emery was acceptable, but let's not get any ideas of him being our savior. 31/33 is a very nice fraction to write out, though, I will admit.

If the Islanders keep it up, however, they could be in the hunt for 8th place. Not a lot of good teams in the East past the big guns. They could hustle their way to the middle of the pack.

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Let's take a look at Emery's game log, if we may:
http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/player.h ... ew=gamelog

Winnipeg: win, 27/30 - the Jets are coming together nicely now but were miserable in the early going
Columbus: win, 27/29 - lol blow jackets
Tampa Bay: OT loss, 27/32 - hung tough with a dangerous and top-heavy offense
Calgary: win, 24/25 - very good performance albeit against a rather weak offense
Edmonton: loss, 20/27 - gah
St. Louis: win, 23/25 - can't be unhappy with this win, solid performance

Phoenix: relief appearance, shootout loss, 11/11 (0/2) - this is sort of the point where everyone really started getting on board the Emery bandwagon, but we can't lose sight of the fact that a Coyotes team that already lacks elite scoring found itself categorically hamstrung by a redlining Hawks team to the tune of 11 SOG in 40 minutes, and then Emery was embarrassed when he had to go one-on-one with that aforementioned non-elite talent. Saved our asses, got us a point that Crawford wouldn't have, but still causes for concern here.

Long Island: win, 31/33 - Seeing this in the context of his other starts makes me realize it was a much better performance than I gave him credit for. This is the first time he's broken the 30-save mark all year.

And if he's going to be our everyday guy, he's going to have to keep making at least 30 saves a night. You know how many games we have left against the Red Wings? All six of them. There are also three more with the Sharks, two more with the Oilers, two with Vancouver, and assorted engagements with Eastern teams who are scoring at a much higher clip than Western teams this year. You can't get fat on the limp-dick Blues and Blue Jackets all year; there are plenty of legitimate offenses that the Hawks still have to face. I don't know if Emery is up for it. That would be fine if I weren't so unsure that Crawford is any better suited.

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No, you're absolutely right. No lateral movement.

We're not not going to see Alex Salak up here, you know. Situation dire.

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Aaand Emery gets the start against the Sharts.

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Nice ending but wish they could get it done in regulation.