Essentially the worst thing that could happen to the Chicago Blackhawks has occurred , as goaltender Corey Crawford was placed on injured reserve Friday

The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that goaltender Corey Crawford has been placed on injured reserve. https://www.blackhawkschifans.com/michal...ival-jersey-c-5.html The ’Hawks have recalled Jean Francois Berube from Rockford. The injury makes sense because Crawford looked out of sorts against the Dallas Stars last night in a 4 3 overtime loss.

This is a huge blow to the Blackhawks. Many believe the ’Hawks would be a below .500 team without Crawford in net. He has put up Vezina worthy numbers during the early part of this season. Crawford is currently is fourth in save percentage and fifth in saves this season. His slashline is .930/2.29. He also faces the third most shots in the NHL.
With Crawford being out Chicago Blackhawks Blank Jersey, I expect the Blackhawks to split time with Berube and Anton Forsberg. Both players have limited NHL experience. Berube has 21 games of the NHL experience with a .900/3.10 slashline. Forsberg currently has 16 NHL games under his belt with a career slashline of .889/3.71. He has fared better than this season with a slashline of .904/3.71.

Crawford’s difficult history

The Crawford stint on IR should not surprise anyone. Crawford spends time on IR every year. Last year he missed time with an emergency appendectomy.

I think the big issue is his backups. While general manager Stan Bowman added depth to the organization, neither backup is very impressive thus far. In years past https://www.blackhawkschifans.com/jordan...erle-jersey-c-6.html, the ’Hawks have felt reassured by Scott Darling filling in and playing well for the Blackharks during Crawford’s stint on IR.

The backups’ inexperience and the amount of shots faced are huge concerns. The ’Hawks are third in shots faced this season. That is the highest it has been during Crawford’s tenure as the Blackhawks’ starting goalie.

The one fact that could help the Blackhawks is their Corsi for percentage. In years past, the Blackhawks have been better at possessing the puck. The Blackhawks are at 51.7 Corsi for mark, fourth best in the NHL this season. While the number is better than those of the last two seasons https://www.blackhawkschifans.com/jan-rutta-jersey-c-4.html, it is still below those of the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup years.
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Monday afternoons in AHL fandom usually consist of two things

The weekly announcement of the AHL’s Player of the Week this week awarded to Spencer Martin of San Antonio , and
The AHL’s suspension announcements stemming from the weekend’s games.
This week, four names popped up on the suspension report, with the longest suspension going to Wilkes Barre/Scranton’s Andrey Pedan. Pedan received a three game suspension https://www.penguinspitfans.com/phil-kessel-jersey-c-20.html, presumably for this hit on Jakub Zboril of Providence during Saturday’s 4 3 OT win.
Pedan jumps into the hit on Zboril, hitting him dangerously high and putting Zboril out of the game. Zboril didn’t play in Providence’s game on Sunday Chad Ruhwedel Jersey, either.

The hit was not penalized in game, which was stunning to me. The only penalties stemming from that hit were matching fighting majors to Pedan and Providence’s Ken Agostino, who skated in to attempt to get Pedan to answer for the hit.

The three game suspension puts https://www.penguinspitfans.com/patric-h...ist-jersey-c-21.html Pedan out for this Friday’s game at Binghamton, as well as WBS’s games on November 22 against Lehigh Valley and November 24 at Syracuse.

I don’t anticipate WBS having to call up anyone from Wheeling to replace Pedan for those three games with Kevin Spinozzi still in WBS and Ethan Prow standing in admirably for Lukas Bengtsson on Sunday https://www.penguinspitfans.com/tom-kuhnhackl-jersey-c-19.html, unless Bengtsson’s absence proves to be more serious than a one game absence. In that case, perhaps Wheeling will be called upon to bolster the WBS defense.
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The Carolina Hurricanes are sure to be active on the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline. It’s yet to be seen whether they’ll be buyers or sellers.

Getting co captain defensemen Justin Faulk going is almost a must for the Carolina Hurricanes, if they want to have a leader at that end of the ice. Faulk and Jordan Staal were named co captains during the off season and have not panned out so far.
A win for the Canes over the Florida Panthers on Dec. 2, at PNC Arena https://www.carhurricanesfans.com/marcus...ger-jersey-c-21.html, could help get the team back on track after two costly defeats in a row. The losses to the New York Rangers on Dec. 1, and to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 28, prevented the Canes from gaining some ground on teams above them in the Metropolitan Division.

An underlying theme of the Canes struggles is the lack of offensive production from the blue line. There’s also been https://www.carhurricanesfans.com/josh-jooris-jersey-c-22.html an abundance of turnovers from some of the defensemen as well. Even Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce went through a dip for around two weeks.

All this comes back to the defenseman that is supposed to be the leader of this group, Faulk. He’s usually a high scoring defender that the Canes can count on both for even strength and the power play. Faulk sits tied with Victor Rask in scoring for the Canes with seven points. Moreover https://www.carhurricanesfans.com/sebast...aho-jersey-c-23.html, he only has one goal.

Good news is that Faulk traditionally gets stronger down the stretch. However, December is going to be tough for the Canes Carolina Hurricanes Blank Jersey, with 10 of the 15 games on slate coming on the road. It’s these times that the team needs their leaders the most.

Here’s 3 reasons that trading Justin Faulk is a good move for the Carolina Hurricanes.
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Glen Gulutzan struggled to find words to describe exactly what happened to the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.

The problem may look obvious. They lost 7 5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the second installment Battle of Alberta https://www.cgyflamesfans.com/matt-bartkowski-jersey-c-9.html, and, at one point, they were down 6 1 before they fired four straight goals by former Flames draft pick and Oilers netminder Laurent Brossoit. They’re inconsistent. Their defensive game has holes. They’re making too many mistakes. Their special teams need to improve.

But what the Flames head coach was struggling with was on a philosophical level — they have the tools, the personnel, good goaltending …

So what is it?

“We really have to evaluate with our group what emotional level are we at when we play big games,” Gulutzan said. “I’m not concerned about energy. I thought there was energy. I just thought there was a ton of nervous energy. We couldn’t catch a pass. We couldn’t make a pass. What concerns me with this https://www.cgyflamesfans.com/kris-versteeg-jersey-c-10.html group is on the mental side of the game. That fight, flight or freeze mentality. We seem to freeze a bit until something good happens, and then we start to move.


“That is something we have to address.”

At 14 11 1, it’s not a desperate situation. They are only one point behind the Vancouver Canucks 13 10 4 and two points behind the Dallas Stars 15 10 1 for the final wildcard spots in the NHL’s Western Conference. And they’re only seven points behind the conference leading Winnipeg Jets 16 6 4 .

But the fact is the team can’t seem to get it together when there’s a big game on the line — see Saturday’s game and Tuesday’s 4 1 loss to the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.

“We have to address it and bring it to the table and then deal with it,” Gulutzan said. “I think our guys are ready. They’re serious. They’re dialled in. But with our group, the more tension there is, the more tension there is in their sticks. We have to get past that.”

Sunday was a day off for the team, and Monday is the final game of a four game homestand as they host the Philadelphia Flyers 7 p.m., Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan .

They’ll travel on Tuesday before back to back games in Toronto and Montreal. Then it’s another travel day on Friday before hosting the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

It’s not a lot of time to practise — but it’s a pile of games to iron out this most pressing issue.

“I’ve been around them a lot — they’re a great group of guys https://www.cgyflamesfans.com/tj-brodie-jersey-c-8.html, and they want to win,” Gulutzan said. “They care. They don’t have personal agendas. To be honest with you, when they’re wound tight, they’re digging in. I worry about them sometimes at those stages.”

The Flames have proven they play better when they’re collectively loose as a team — see their most recent road trip when Gulutzan mandated a ’50s style’ dress code on the team’s train ride from Philadelphia to Washington on Nov. 18 and it was clear the group was having a great time. What happened? They rattled off a 4 1 win over the Washington Capitals on Nov. 20.

“It’s confidence Travis Hamonic Jersey, but they play better when there’s less pressure on them,” Gulutzan said. “That’s something we have to deal with better as a group. They almost wait for something good to happen.

“You guys see it — you saw it Saturday how much we can surge after we score a goal. You saw it in the third period Saturday , but that’s too late.”
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