Thursday’s Three Stars: No Oasis to be Found in this Desert

Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator

When a person pulls up to Jobing.com Arena, and begins to look around the area, there are a couple of things that stand out.

The first unique feature is the landscape. Arizona has a rugged desert landscape, dotted with mountains and heaps of cactuses (or is it cacti?).

The other item of note is the general lack of people. Attendance at Coyotes games, which has always been a bit suspect, has dwindled considerably this year, with crowds of six to seven thousand people becoming more and more common as the team struggles to keep a foothold in the desert Southwest.

The Hawks came to town on Thursday night, and the crowd did increase a bit, up to around 10,000 people, but the general lack of passion in the arena was palpable.

Regardless of the number of butts in the Sedona red seats of the arena, the outcome was not one to write home about, as the Hawks lost a 3-1 game to the Coyotes. They looked listless at times, and at other times looked surprised at the tenacity of play they were encountering.

After an early goal by Martin Hanzal three minutes into the contest, the Hawks were never able to recover. They were given plenty of opportunities by the ‘Yotes, who charitably gave Chicago six different power play chances. The Blackhawks were able to convert on……zero of them. Now, granted, the Coyotes do sport the 12th best penalty kill in the league, but for a team that has been struggling to score goals lately (11 goals in their previous five games), the Hawks need to really start converting on these opportunities.

Cristobal Huet

When the defense is playing as well as it is (only allowing 23 shots to Phoenix tonight), the offense needs to play its part, and a short-handed goal when you’re already down 3-0 simply isn’t going to cut it.

Chicago needs to be able to do more than simply crash the net on every possession. It is a hallmark of Joel Quenneville teams to do that, but when a team like Phoenix just keeps collapsing around the net to prevent the opposition from gaining a foothold, the team has to adapt to a more perimeter based game. The Hawks don’t seem to be able to do that, and the Coyotes made them pay.

Of course, it will help the team’s goal scoring abilities to have their captain back on the ice, and also have Ben Eager be able to clear some traffic with his physicality, but the onus is on their teammates to step up in their absence, and there are few players who seem to be up to the challenge.

Valley of the Sun

Andrew Ebbett has been a non-entity in his time with the Hawks, managing six shots and a -1 in six games with the team. He did get only 8:29 of ice time tonight, but the fact is that he is merely keeping the seat warm on the team charter for Eager when he returns.

Tomas Kopecky has also been struggling a bit as of late, committing minor penalties in four straight games as his ice time has steadily increased from 8:13 against Nashville to over 15 minutes against Phoenix tonight. He also was a big part of the power play tonight, getting nearly six minutes of man-advantage time, but to no avail. He will certainly need to step his game up in the weeks and months ahead.

Now that I’m off of my soapbox, here are PIB’s Three Stars this evening:

Third Star: Duncan Keith

Yes, his stat line doesn’t jump off the page at you (a minus-1 with two shots), but the number that sticks out more than any other was his nearly 29 minutes of ice time tonight. Keith has always been a minutes hog, but his numbers have been steadily increasing the entire season. His defense never seems to suffer from the large workload, and he still is a viable offensive threat.

Second Star: Kris Versteeg

Sharp: Six shots, no luck

Kudos to this young man, who had a goal for a second straight game this evening, as well as getting five shots on Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. He also was a jack of all trades in ice time as well, spending a good amount of time not only on even strength shifts, but also getting some serious time on the power play, and also on the penalty kill.

Steeger made the short-handed goal a big part of his arsenal last season, leading all rookies with four short-handed markers. This goal was a big one for him, as it at least gave the Hawks some hope of a comeback in this contest, and it also demonstrated that he is not going to succumb to the pressure of the dreaded “sophomore slump” that befalls so many other players.

First Star: Brent Seabrook

With 3:02 of ice time on the penalty kill, and 24:18 TOI overall, it would appear as though Seabrook has fully come back from his “upper body injury”. It is great to see him on the ice and contributing, especially on the physical end, and he did spend five minutes on the power play as well, which is a great display of the faith that Quenneville has in him on offense.

The Hawks will next skate in Colorado on Friday night. The puck will drop at Pepsi Center against the Avalanche at 8pm CST.