Hawks Get Blown Out In Toronto 7-3

You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Tonight the Hawks looked absolutely putrid. The weakest part of their game right now is their penalty kill. So, the key is to stay out of the box, right?
Well, somebody needs to tell Andrew Shaw about that. He was in the box 3 times today. The Hawks were playing catch up the rest of the game. Everytime the Hawks would try to close the gap, the Maple Leafs immediately would score afterward. The last 10 minutes of the game was really nothing more than pond hockey and it looked miserable to watch. Raanta gave up 5 goals and Simpson came in and was greeted with a goal on his first shot attempt. He looked completely amateurish. He gave up 2 goals and it was quite apparent he didn't know where to dish of pucks to and he looked completely out of place.

The Hawks need to bury this game and move on. Someone needs to give Shaw some lashings, for he looked like horse crap out there. He is supposed to control that 3rd line and he threw the team off balance all night. Kane looked amazing scoring 2 goals and was trying to be the focus as much as he could. Toews was the same way. Although Keith was a -4 tonight, you can't put this one on him.

Bad bad game over all. I notice this with this team. They either are really good, or they all fall asleep. But, here's the thing about this team, they have a unique ability to bury this game and move on. They'll go over their mistakes and try to play the best they possibly can without the use of their starting goal tender. Crawford is expected back in 2 more weeks. In the mean time, the Hawks traded for Jason LaBarbera from Edmonton. He's an average goaltender, but he does have years of NHL experience. He's definitely better as a back up to Raanta than Simpson. Good move on the Hawks part. Hope they didn't have to give up much for LaBarbera though.

Hawks return home to face the HOT L.A. Kings tomorrow at the U.C. For some reason, the Hawks show up against the better teams. Just look at the teams they struggle against. The further they are below .500 the more they struggle against them. (Is it concentration issues?....Who knows). Hawks will try to get back on track tomorrow.