Blackhawks Fans Could Use A Round Of Shots

Tommie Lee
Nov 4, 2014
2 min read

A round of shots would be great for the team. At this point the fans could use one as well.

Belly up to the bar and take a look at the recent games. Nobody is getting any quality shots when they have the puck right now in scoring position. Chicago has two goals in the last two games, both of them coming against the Maple Leafs in a loss. Granted Toronto is an improved team sitting in 5th place right now in the Eastern Conference. But it still feels very wrong to lose to them. And getting shut out on home ice by the lowly Winnipeg Jets? While looking more anemic on offense than that score would even suggest in the process? That’s just sad.

Should Blackhawks fans be worried? Of course not. It’s early. Hawks fans that I talk with on Twitter started the week sounding a bit salty. No one seems deeply concerned, though. Everyone seems to be equal parts annoyed and disappointed.

The Blackhawks have so many weapons on offense that their fans can’t help but scratch our heads about why they can’t manage to get anything done at the opposite side of the ice right now. The players themselves are at a loss to explain the troubles. They refer to the recent spate of struggles as “a funk” and are saying pretty much what you expect them to be saying about stepping up and so on. Coach Quenneville said the offense has been dry and it’s tough. He also said after the Jets loss that if the team perseveres it will get what it deserves.

Bad bounces, quirky goals the other way…things are on a downward swing at the moment for Chicago. Some fans are critical of Coach Q’s Wheel Of Revolving Lines. Others are shaking this spate of anti-goals off as just one of those early November things that come up when a team is still getting on its skates.

Either way, we could all use a shot. It’s not very often we see the Hawks get shut out at home.

By…Winnipeg. (shudder)

Some other thoughts: It’s good to see Crawford back in goal. It just is. Brad Richards had his first Blackhawks goal in the Toronto loss. And Marian Hossa getting his 100oth point in his 1100th game…in Ottawa, no less…had a sort of perfect symmetry to it. The team presented him with a nice shiny puck to commemorate the milestone. A reminder: Patrick Kane has 501. Hopefully we can celebrate his 1000th in six or seven years. Maybe sooner.

Next up for the Blackhawks: A trip to Montreal on Tuesday, then back home for the Capitals Friday night and the Sharks Sunday evening. It’s two weeks of Sunday-Tuesday-Friday hockey before the big Circus Road Trip around Thanksgiving at the end of the month. From November 20th through the 29th, the Blackhawks will travel to Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Colorado, Anaheim, and Los Angeles.

We can be thanful that it IS in fact only November, and there is plenty of hockey yet to be played this season. Struggling like this now is very different than struggling like this in March or April. Or heaven forbid…May.

Go Hawks!