2015-16 NHL Predictions: Raise a Banner, Look the Other Way

When your favorite team is coming off a year in which they just won a Stanley Cup (the third such title in six years, no less), there would presumably some level of excitement about repeating as champions in the coming season after spending the summer celebrating. Yet here we are, with nearly every headline and story relating to the Chicago Blackhawks over the past few months having to do entirely with an alleged rape involving Patrick Kane.

Too much of the fan response to this story has been nauseating, with several shameless attempts to slut-shame the alleged victim. "Innocent until proven guilty" has been a refrain frequently repeated on Twitter. It's stunning to see how many people who are completely willing to give the former Conn Smythe winner a complete pass will waste no time in suggesting every possible ulterior motive of the alleged victim.

The whole saga has certainly dampened my enthusiasm going into this new season. Another championship banner will be raised at the United Center tonight, although I and many other Chicagoans will probably be tuning in to TBS to watch the Cubs instead.

I'm not assuming Patrick Kane is guilty here, but it seems reasonable to believe that the team would have been better served by having him stay away for the preseason out of respect to the criminal case. Instead, Kane appeared at camp and with the team in multiple other functions, always greeted with enthusiastic cheers. Something about this just makes me feel very icky.

I've spent too much time criticizing the fans of other teams who do not hesitate to welcome back players accused of misconduct (with some of the more high-profile cases having admittedly more evidence), so it's unusual for me to now wonder how I should respond when Kane scores his first goal of the regular season. What if he pots another series-clincher in the playoffs?

I do not know how much of this NHL season I will spend pondering these kinds of questions. The point is that I no longer have anywhere near the same level of adoration for No. 88 that I once had. After his cabbie-punching incident, his alleged girl-choking incident, and now this, I feel like every cheer for the guy is an unacceptable and uncomfortable endorsement.

So this will be an interesting year. Again, a year after I watched my favorite team do exactly what you cheer for your team all year to accomplish.

2014-15 NHL Predictions: Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs

So I was unable to get these picks up before the puck dropped last night (Blackhawks season, after all, begins tonight). I don't think being a day late gives me any sort of profound advantage or additional insight that any of the experts out there didn't have for the months leading up to making their own predictions.

And as the graphic here indicates, my beloved Blackhawks are quite the popular pick this year. While at the bank yesterday, a segment on PTI simply asked Tony and Michael "Kings or Blackhawks?"

Such is the way of the NHL, where much like the NBA, the West is seen as the overwhelming favorite. And while Chicago and L.A. are understandable favorites, you really couldn't fault anybody for liking other clubs in the West that upgraded this off-season, such as, say, St. Louis or Anaheim.

While seeing the Blackhawks being the choice of so many admittedly bolsters my optimism about a prolonged first viewing of the NHL Playoffs with the newborn (who will be a year old by the time the Cup is awarded), I'm also left a little uneasy by the distinct likelihood that an overwhelming favorite probably won't pan out.

Nonetheless, with the Bears being such a disappointment thus far this season and my still being left with a fair bit of skepticism about how much hope to invest in the Bulls (and let us not even speak of the Braves), hockey arrives at just the right time. Oh, how I have been longing to hear the voice of John Wiedeman again.

Final Thoughts on 2013-14 Chicago Blackhawks: Hold That Dynasty Talk

Blackhawks fans have been spoiled these past few years. The team had enjoyed considerable success in Games 5-7 of most any series they played in over the past four year, and it was the winning record in those games that probably led many of us (including yours truly) to assume that Chicago was on its way to a second straight Stanley Cup after the Hawks came back from a 3-1 series deficit to force a seventh game. But then reality happened.

Everything seemed to start well enough, and even when the Kings fought back to tie Game 7, the Blackhawks would retake the lead. As the series that had been so good even casual fans were raving about its quality saw the winner-take-all game go into overtime, we all wondered which Hawk would emerge as this year's hero. Toews had the game-winner on the breakaway in Game 5 in St. Louis and Kane had the series-clincher in Minnesota. This time though, the lucky bounce of the puck instead went in the other team's favor and fans all over Chicago were left speechless.

While it was certainly a heartbreaking conclusion to a hard-fought series, the end result is not cause for panic. There are questions that deserve to be asked, for sure. However, the Blackhawks were attempting to repeat after last season concluded later than usual, this season began earlier than usual, and the team was tied for the most skaters sent overseas for the Olympics. The fact that they made it as far as they did is a testament to how very good they are, and that they lost to a club that was arguably the best team in the league is nothing to be ashamed of. 

NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Conference Finals Predictions: Rematches and Revivals

The Western Conference Finals ended up being what I had predicted last round, but the East turned out to be two upsets with the underdogs both knocking off the home teams in Game 7s. We're left with some fairly intriguing possibilities for this year's Stanley Cup Final, with the West featuring the last two Cup winners and the East boasting teams that last won it all in 1993 and 1994. In other words, we'll end up with one recent winner taking on a team that hasn't tasted success in two decades.

I'm guessing that while there will certainly be other individual heroes who score game-winning goals, much of the focus in both these conference finals will revolve heavily around the men in between the pipes for all four teams. The remaining goalies all have the potential to individually decide their respective series, and there's a very good chance that we'll be treated to several low-scoring goaltending duels. A single goal could be critical in both of these series, and both series could very well come down to which goalie allows the lone goal that results in the other team moving on to play for the Cup.

Round Two NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions: Division Finals? Conference Semifinals?

It's late at night and all three final Game 7 contests of the first round concluded with me being wrong about every single winner. That was pretty indicative my opening round picks, but the saving grace would of course be that my beloved Blackhawks are still very much alive, very much kicking, and very likely to keep defending their title perhaps well into May. Then again, considering my performance last round, perhaps I should pick against them just to improve their chances.

The NHL postseason is without a doubt my favorite time of year, and each one of these four series in the next round has the potential to be riveting stuff. If the last round taught us nothing else, no upset can be ruled out and no lead is safe. So needless to say, I won't be getting too far ahead of myself and talking about possible Stanley Cup Final picks. Hoping, of course, is another matter.

Round One NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions: Let the fun begin

My first attempt at guessing the final spots of all 30 teams in the new four division format did not go particularly well, having only placed a mere six teams correctly. I correctly identified 11 of the 16 teams that will be participating in the playoffs, but needless to say, there were some disappointments (Ottawa, Edmonton) and surprises (most notably Colorado, winners of the same Central I had the Avs finishing last in). My fairly poor track record thus far doesn't exactly make me feel particularly confident about how I'll fare in predicting the outcome of this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

The new playoff format certainly seems likely to take a solid first step toward building the intense, bitter division rivalries that the league is hoping for. There's bound to be some very competitive contests over the next couple of weeks, and there's reason to believe that nearly every one of the 16 teams has a chance of moving on to the next round. Of course, there's also the reality that a number of teams that seemed like possible Cup contenders will be gone after this first round (San Jose-Los Angeles, St. Louis-Chicago).

Still, there's going to be a compelling story or two develop somewhere in these playoffs, and I'm giddy at the thought of getting off work tomorrow evening to feast on playoff hockey all night. And the night after that. And the ... well, the wife's probably going to be home after more than a week out of town, so that'll be a little more tricky justifying any series not involving the Blackhawks. While I was initially thrilled to think that our daughter was due a couple weeks after the Final likely concludes, I was reminded today that all four of the children her mother delivered arrived two to four weeks early. So whereas I once joked that my wife would go into labor as soon as Chicago went into overtime in a deciding Stanley Cup game, that now seems even more likely. For now though, I'll just try to enjoy as much of the opening round as I can. 

The Blackhawks' Fourth Quarter: Bring on the Blues

For every one of the previous three quarterly updates, the Blackhawks had been holding off the St. Louis Blues for first place in the Central Division. The largest lead at any quarter's conclusion was a mere four points and the leads at the time were always somewhat misleading because St. Louis always had at least a couple games still in hand. It was shortly after that last update when the Blues boasted the biggest of all trade deadline acquisitions in star Sabres goalie Ryan Miller that St. Louis finally overtook the 'Hawks for the top spot in the Central and appeared well on their way to contending for the Presidents' Trophy. However, the month of April was not kind to the Blues, concluding the season by losing six in a row and, in the process, conceding the division title to a plucky Colorado Avalanche squad that I had originally forecast to finish in the cellar (so, you know, "oops").

With Detroit now a member of the Eastern Conference, St. Louis has certainly felt like the new regional rival for Chicago. In that sense, it's only appropriate that they meet in the first round of the NHL's newly revamped playoff system that wants to hype up division rivalries. The Blackhawks finished the year with the team's two biggest stars, Toews and Kane, sidelined by injuries. The Blues have also been dealing with their share of health woes, as Derek Roy, Vladimir Sobotka, T.J. Oshie, Brenden Morrow, David Backes, and Barret Jackman were all listed as "day-to-day" in the final two weeks.

Of course, paralysis, amputation, or decapitation are the only types of injuries that would cause a player to miss the playoffs in the NHL. Everybody's going to be banged up when the race for the Cup kicks off Wednesday night, but I don't see how 'Hawks fans cannot feel great about the team they drew. Whereas the last few weeks were fret with concern about how Chicago was ever going to be able to score on Colorado netminder Semyon Varlamov (boasting a stunning .960 save percentage against the Blackhawks this year), the Blues suddenly look like a complete mess and an ideal opponent for last year's Stanley Cup Champions to begin their title defense against. I might not be so optimistic a couple weeks from now, but for the time being, I'm pretty damn happy.

The Blackhawks' Third Quarter: Gearing up for the final stretch

This is the first time I've posted a quarterly update for the Blackhawks in 2014, thanks to what many of use are hoping was the final interruption for the Olympics. While the 'Hawks were fortunate to have their 10 players return without injuries (teams like the Red Wings and the Islanders were not so lucky), Marián Hossa of course left last night's game early on with an upper-body injury a few nights after returning from Sochi. I won't waste too much time bitching and whining about the Olympics though, seeing as there's a little thing called the Trade Deadline approaching on Wednesday. While it basically goes unnoticed here in the States, it's essentially a national holiday in Canada. This year, there might be reason for Chicago to be active on that market if the team's serious about repeating as Stanley Cup winners.

Sure, the Blackhawks got a couple forwards from the Isles about a month ago in exchange for a fourth round pick. But I don't blame you for not being overly excited about either Pierre-Marc Bouchard or Peter Regin, seeing as I had to look up who they were when the trade was announced. It's a low-risk move, but probably low on rewards too. And so the refrain remains, as it has seemingly almost every year around this time, for the team to find a stronger second line center. This news isn't going to make that chorus much quieter, and neither will the recent move by the chief rivals in the Central to acquire Buffalo's star goalie, Ryan Miller. The playoffs indeed seem like a safe bet for Chicago, but there's good reason to have concern about how far this team's going to be able to go.

The Blackhawks' Second Quarter: Pardon the Olympic Interruption

It certainly appears that this year's defense of the Stanley Cup will be nothing like the 2010-11 season in which the Blackhawks had to creep in after grabbing the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference. Unlike the fire sale that followed the 2010 Cup win, this year's team has been kept largely intact and is storming through the NHL 41 games into this season. Consider that Chicago has scored five or more goals in nearly half of their games this season.

Name a player on this team and chances are good that he is having a solid campaign thus far. When a waiter at a local restaurant saw my Blackhawks cap during a recent visit, he asked who my favorite player was. It had been a while since I'd been asked this and I had to think about it. Based upon the very Norris Trophy-worthy season he's having thus far, my reply was Duncan Keith. But it could have just as easily been Patrick Kane. Or Patrick Sharp. Hell, why not Brandon Saad?

Blah blah blah. In short, there isn't a whole helluva lot that 'Hawks fans shouldn't feel good about right now. The champs are playing like the best team in the league, and it once again remains very hard to imagine that any team is going to be able wo win a seven-game series against Chicago come April. If there is one worry, it is undoubtedly the penalty kill that currently ranks among the league's worst after going on an amazing streak of success in last year's playoffs. Then again, with the team scoring as often as it is right now, simply avoiding stupid penalties would seemingly be the easiest fix to that, ahem, "problem."

Oh, and then there's the whole three-week interruption we're about to go through for what I hope and fervently pray is the final NHL player participation in the Winter Olympics. In addition to the fatigue concerns and how the sudden time out of the country will affect the roll the Blackhawks have been on, there is as alawys just the overwhelming fear of a star player sustaining an injury. Sure, Chicago has more than enough contributors right now to possibly make up for the inevitable player loss or two that will happen between now and the playoffs, but I'd still prefer safe than sorry. And it's hard to ignore the fact that the last time there was a mid-season Olympics break, the 'Hawks won the Cup that year.

The Blackhawks' First Quarter: Room for Improvement

There's better pictures out there of the championship baaner ceremony, but few of them fit very well in the quarterly graphic. So there ya go. (You can go here to watch the ceremony, or get a better range of images here.)

When the NHL dropped the puck on this 2013-14 season, it seemed to come up on a lot of people sooner than usual. That was partly because we were coming off a shortened season that didn't begin until January last time around and partly because this season did start a little sooner than usual thanks to the three-week interruption we'll get courtesy of the Homophobic Hockey Winter Olympics over on the other side of the planet. 

So whereas I was quite the dedicated fan last year who listened to or watched every single 'Hawks game, this season's competing with playoff baseball and regular season NFL as well as us finally cutting the cord with cable has ultimately seen me only pay passing attention to the developments of games I get in the form of various push notifications on my cell phone. And the one thing that has been an annoying constant thus far this season is being informed that Chicago will be up 2-0 or 3-0, but then later that evening I will be told to tune in because the game is tied and is going to overtime. Sure, the Blackhawks end up winning a majority of these contests (I'm a little stunned to read that the 'Hawks are 1.000 when leading after one and .917 when leading after two, but are 3-4 in overtime), but the defense late in games is my foremost concern. 

Some of that has to do with goaltending issues (possibly because of new equipment?), largely because Nikolai Khabibulin thus far has not shown any signs of being anywhere near the backup that Ray Emery was last year. However, another aspect concerns a penalty kill that has essentially been the complete opposite of the dominance showcased last year. Still, none of these are issues that cannot be corrected. 

And it's hard to complain too much when Chicago sits atop the division standings.

2013-14 NHL Predictions: Lamest predictions ever

There was of course immediate fear that Sports Illustrated jinxed the Blackhawks season that begins tomorrow night when they put Patrick Kane on the cover and proclaimed Chicago would repeat as Stanley Cup Champions. The 'Hawks will hear over and over again how no team has repeated since the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings, although much like last year's defending champion Los Angeles Kings, there's good reason for optimism in the Windy City since (unlike the start to the 2010-11 season) many of the key players from last year's Cup run are still on the team. Oh, and as I recall it, the last time I posted a pre-season magazine issue with the Blackhawks on the cover, that was the previous year they won the Stanley Cup. 

After winning the Cup in late June, the off-season certainly felt quite short. On top of that, this is also another year in which the regular season will have an asinine three week-or-so interruption because of the Olympics. Of course, the last time there was an Olympics interlude, that was also the season the Blackhawks won the Cup in 2010. 

So there's certainly some encouraging signs on that front, but there's also a whole slew of other factors to consider—none of which I can say I'm adequately prepared for. While I actually paid attention to the NHL Draft this off-season, I've been fairly oblivious to other major moves and then there's the entire reshuffling and reorganizing of divisions that also affects the playoffs in ways that I'm not totally certain I completely understand yet. 

Still, the puck drops on another NHL season tomorrow and I'll throw my half-assed picks out there, not that I think I'll be taking any tremendous risks. 

Final Thoughts on 2013 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks: A shortened season that produced even more memories

Oh, right. So this is what it was supposed to feel like. I guess I kinda forgot after two straight years of first round exits in the playoffs. None of that bullshit this year though, no sir.

I entered this year with my expectations for the Blackhawks somewhat tempered by the fact that the defending champion would be bringing back essentially the entire roster it won the Cup with in 2012—not to mention the fact that some of their players were getting about three more months of rest than Cup winners normally do. However, when Chicago came storming out of the gate and made through each of the first two quarters of this 48-game season without losing a single game in regulation, those expectations were raised about as high as they could be set by the time we got to the third and fourth quarters of the year.

Entering the playoffs as the top seed, anything less than winning the whole damn things seemed unacceptable. That said, this year's run did not seem to be quite the formality it felt like in 2010. I might be downplaying some of the more stressful moments from that postseason, but you could see supposed fans of the team this year leaping off the bandwagon at numerous times when Blackhawks trailed in games or series. Judging by the parade turnout yesterday, I think most of them came back. Maybe they now realize what fans in other cities learned this season the hard way: you can never count this team out.

Final Thoughts on 2013 NHL Season: All's (Really) Well That Ends (Really, Really) Well

It's still rather hard to believe that less than six months ago, many of us we're sitting here thinking that we were on the brink of seeing an entire NHL season wiped out for the second time in less than a decade. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, the puck dropped, and things could not have worked out more perfectly.

I will clearly get to my fawning Final Thoughts wrap-up of the beloved Blackhawks' season in the next post (hopefully tomorrow), but it's important to step back and look at the Playoffs and the entire season as a whole. It apparently wasn't just me who was enjoying the hockey this year. Following the conference finals, the playoffs were the second most-watched in 16 years. This year's Stanley Cup Final was the most watched on record (which, admittedly, only goes back to 1994), and the deciding Game 6 was the ninth-most watched game ever in the United States.

But let me not read too much into those numbers. It is customary for most hockey fans to complain about the lack of attention the sport is receiving, but if we can acknowledge that this cult sport remains fourth in popularity among the four major sports, those of us who did watch were royally treated these past two months. There were overtime games galore, a good number of competitive series and a Stanley Cup Final that at time seemed to be about as evenly matched as any I've ever seen. Much like last year's shortened NBA season, it felt as though this 48-game NHL campaign not only compelled viewers to pay closer attention during the regular season, but brought out another level of competitive spirit from the players as well. The end result is a conclusion so glorious, I suspect many might even forget there was a work stoppage in the first place.

NHL Stanley Cup Final Prediction: More Than a Feeling

That title's play on the Boston song title was admittedly swiped form a Facebook post by 670 The Score's Nick Shepkowski. I'll elaborate on that when I get to my pick at the bottom of this post, but I need to take a moment to note that, Stanley Cup winner aside, the rest of my original preseason picks for winners and losers of the last round and now, hopefully, this round, have been right on. I will elaborate on that overall performance this year in the final NHL post of this season, when I am hopefully celebrating Chicago's second Stanley Cup in four years.

Rest assured, this time around is nowhere near the gimme that 2010 felt like when the Blackhawks drew the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers. Indeed, the Boston Bruins have simply been playing lights-out hockey ever since the remarkable opening round Game 7 comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Of course, they've been doing it in the Eastern Conference, so make of it what you will. Me? I've got my doubts. Of course, I'm a tad biased.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Conference Finals Predictions: Familiar Faces

Before last night's Game 7 at the United Center, the five teams still remaining in the Stanley Cup Playoffs were also the last five winners of the coveted trophy. With the elimination of the Detroit Red Wings, the final four teams are, coincidentally, the last four Stanley Cup winners. If this manner holds in which the team with the longest period of time since its last championship is the next to be eliminated, then Pittsburgh would be the first club to fall in the upcoming round and Chicago would follow immediately after with Los Angles repeating as Cup winners by beating Boston. That, of course, would involve, both top seeds falling in this round, which is a scenario that I'm guessing not many people are ready to believe (or in my case, prefer).

Rest assured, if nothing else, both of these last two series before the 2013 Stanley Cup Final should be nothing less than more thrilling, must-see hockey, as has been more or less the standard established throughout this year's playoffs.

Round Two NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Predictions: The Agony and the Ecstasy

So I clearly made this little graphic before last night's Game 7s, otherwise I almost certainly would have used one of the many other Toronto images instead. And clearly the joy of those Lil Caps Fans was short-lived, although really no image captures the joy of playoff hockey quite as magnificently as that one. Either way, the opening round concluded and it did not disappoint. The 17 overtime games were a new record for the league, and five of the eight series saw the lower seeds advance.

I am fairly convinced at this point that the fortnight that makes up the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is my absolute favorite time of the sports calendar year. Fortunately, this year's playoffs did not see my favorite team get promptly eliminated. Thus, there is an even greater likelihood that I will be awake late at night and possibly leaping from the couch in delight. If last night's wild conclusion to the Leafs-Bruins demonstrated anything, it's that you can never really tell what's going to happen with these games. I was going to say we probably won't see anything like that again this postseason, but really ... all bets are off.

Round One NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions: No Shortened Path Here

When the NHL lockout finally ended, this was the moment that I was perhaps most looking forward to, the one I would have missed the most had the season been lost. While I have been sort of half-viewing portions of the NBA Playoffs thus far, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are an entirely different beast this time of year. I cannot turn away from any game on television—even those not involving the beloved Blackhawks. Indeed, over the coming days, I am hoping to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to watch multiple-overtime contests. Even if there is no late-night hockey, some regular prime time or weekend afternoon playoff hockey should be every bit as satisfying.

In years way past, I used to be pretty good at the predicting business when it came to the NHL Playoffs, but my performance has left a lot to be desired for the last couple years. I will hope to post a more successful record this year, but more than anything, I am ultimately just hoping for a certain outcome.

The Blackhawks' Fourth Quarter: No complaints (... yet)

You know, way back like 100 days ago when I made my original predictions for this NHL season, I said that this year's Stanley Cup winner would be the first team in five years to also win the Presidents' Cup for the most regular season points. Of course, I was talking about the St. Louis Blues, but I'm sure going to hope I was right about that other part now that the Hawks went and secured not only the best record in their division and in the conference, but the entire league as well. So, pressure's on. 

This final graphic of the regular season contains the team picture from the 1990-91 season the Blackhawks last brought home a Presidents' Trophy. Lest you forget, the Chicago team that year was immediately shown the door by a Minnesota North Stars team that went on to lose that year's Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh. This year, the Blackhawks will open the playoffs with Minnesota's newest hockey incarnation, the Wild, and the Penguins are once again favorites in the East. Considering that three of the last four year's Presidents' Trophy winners have been first round exits, there's some mild concern coming from these bad memories.

That nonsense is just damn silly though. Count your fucking blessings, I say, that Chicago is meeting a Minnesota team that stumbled in to the postseason and just barely qualified ahead of a Columbus Blue Jackets team that is nothing like the wretched versions of years past. As it turns out, I think this year's Western Conference playoff picture shapes up very much in the Hawks' favor and there was very, very little during this 48-game season that would lead me to believe any other team in the league can win a seven-game series against them. I know the Hawks never played an Eastern Conference opponent this regular season, but that's not really all that concerning. Sorry.

The Blackhawks' Third Quarter: What Me Worry? (Maybe a little ...)

All good things must come to an end, I suppose. Alas, the 'Hawks finally suffered a regulation loss—five of them, actually—during this last 12-game stretch. I believe the New York Times referred to their 6-5-1 record during this span as fairly "pedestrian," which seems fair. Still, Chicago remains atop the Western Conference (although the Anaheim Ducks are still right behind, and took all three meetings with the Blackhawks this year—more on that in a sec though), and is now tied with a Pittsburgh team that won every single game they played in March for the most points in the league. Entering this final stretch of the shortened season, the playoffs are all but a certainty, but that does not mean there aren't certain concerns that need to be addressed if Chicago is to bring home its second Stanley Cup in four years.

First (and foremost, in my mind) is the number of frightening late period/late game collapses. I haven't been keeping track, but there has been a disturbing number of goals allowed in the final two minutes of periods this year, and whereas this year began with me constantly expecting the Blackhawks to come back from one-goal deficits late in games, I now fear that they'll inevitably cough up any third period lead they have. This trend is most certainly not a good thing, and it needs to stop before the playoffs begin. Enter the playoffs with an inability to protect a lead, and a first-round exit is not out of the question.

And while I noted last quarter that Chicago had two of the best goaltenders in the league, there's the annual concern about whether Corey Crawford really is your "number one" guy in between the pipes. I'm a bit more skeptical about this issue (Antti Niemi was facing similar doubts toward the end of the 2010 regular season, but that turned out OK), but Crawford can't afford to allow the softies that helped Phoenix oust the 'Hawks last year. Emery is certainly more than capable as a backup right now, so it's not like we're stuck with a Huet-ish alternative here.

Similarly, there's been A LOT of venom directed at Dave Bolland, who has been basically invisible, borderline dead this season. It was kind of ironic that the goal that finally ended his more than month-long scoring drought didn't actually involve him taking a shot. Again, like the goalie situation, Bolland similarly struggled in the 2010 regular season before making an impact in the playoffs. A lot of the things he does to get under the skin of opponents does not come up on the stat sheet anyway, kind of like what he did to help set up this goal.

Finally, there's the underwhelming faceoff numbers, an issue that is supposedly addressed by the one notable trade Stan Bowman made before the deadline, acquiring Michal Handzus from San Jose. The Blackhawks didn't make any big-name moves like the arms race that is going on in the East between Boston and Pittsburgh, but I'm not sure they really needed to either. The team has been without the contributions of both Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp during these last dozen games, and those returns can only help.

The Blackhawks' Second Quarter: A Far More Impressive Streak Than The Miami Heat

Or as Manti Te'o would say, a "faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar" more impressive streak. I'm of course referencing the "comparison" that was being discussed on the Mother Ship and the reliably asinine commentary we should expect from one Stephen A. Smith, who was promptly and justifiably ridiculed. As this post on the HockeyWriters.com noted, whereas the Blackhawks have been setting various NHL league records, Miami's then 14-game winning streak at the time was fairly modest in comparison to a number of other NBA winning streaks in recent years. But, you know, "ties."

Look, I get that there's always some grumbling in sports when a teams record has to include a second hyphen and a third digit, usually to denote "ties" if we're talking about, say, the NFL. But this is hockey, and ever since the lost 2004-05 season, shootouts have been used to settle games tied after 60 minutes of play. And sure, as the great Bob Verdi once wrote, awarding a point in the NHL to a team just for forcing overtime was "piling mistakes upon errors" in the grand scheme of changes enacted for regular season games when hockey returned.

Still, absolutely none of that detracts from what this team has accomplished thus far. We are now halfway through a shortened regular season and the Blackhawks still have yet to lose a hockey game. Sure, Chicago has lost three skills contests. Whatever that's worth. Considering that the gimmick disappears once the playoffs begin, I'm going to say "not a whole helluva lot." Right now, I find it hard to believe that any team in the league stands much of a chance in a seven-game series with this Blackhawks team.