I believe my feeling that the first two games were not officiated well is an accurate assessment from someone that has watched ALOT of hockey, not just the Hawks over the last 5 years, as well as growing up with lots of dual sport hockey/soccer international players, teammates who I was introduced to the game with from a young age over 30 years ago, in Chicago.
Do you think the first two games were well officiated? It was one point among many I made, including Bowman, Q, the aging defense...etc. You just chose that ONE to zero in on and make assumptions and start attacking through your streaming tears.
I don't know what happened. We all have come to expect more from this group...but I think Toews and Anisimov were hurt during the series, and AA before. And couple that with maybe alot of veterans either not believing in the young players, or Q...and dropping the first 2 set the tone they couldn't overcome. It sucks. I don't think they suck. I think it sucks. It happened, we had a sucky series.
I'm not sure 2-3 players raising their level of play to hero status would have been enough, and not only were those heros unwilling to pay that sacrifice but it just seemed hopeless. These things happen. It doesn't come together. Alot of young and new pieces out there.
Somehow we got a #1 seed, and I believe we will be a better hockey team next year. The West was available for the taking, which makes it hard to swallow, but Nashville is a damn good hockey team, and my gut is Washington is the only team capable of stopping them, if Washington can keep going and not choke job.
1st, let's agree to end the hostility.
Now...
I won't say that officiating wasn't bad; it was and it has been all year long especially with the lack of a definitive line on what is and what isn't goaltender interference. But I will say that irrespective of the officiating: the way we played, we still get swept.
Toews has been down since 2016. I don't know if he had a nagging injury, or his paleo diet, or what, but Toews didn't look that good in 2016, didn't look good outside of February in 2017, Was invisible in the 2016 playoffs, and was virtually invisible in the 2017 playoffs. Anisimov, yeah, you can tell he wasn't better from that wicked ankle injury.
I don't think it's just 2-3 players that needed to play better; they all did. Toews was being manhandled and ragdolled, as well as making dumb puck decisions and stopping skating. Keith was making even worse puck decisions and regularly giving up on plays. Kane & Panarin were either shooting into Rinne's crest or 6' wide--not to mention that entire line (along with a lame (injured-type lame) Anisimov waiting for the *perfect* play. Seabrook & Hossa, while definitely putting in effort, looked old and slow--not to mention Hoss'a BRUTAL drop pass that should be keeping him awake at night. Crawford went between giving the skaters a fighting chance to stay with it to just giving up when the score got too high. Campbell and Oduya looked as outmatched as any rookie we iced. TVR and Kruger looked engaged but didn't have the talent to make much impact, and Hartman and Panik came down to earth at the most inopportune time.
Contrast this to the team-level of play and cohesiveness of February. So, yes, they sucked IMHO. They failed to play up the level they did this year (February) when it was indeed the time and place for them to go completely balls-out and bring their A-game. That, to me, is the hingepin of *how* we lost. Not whether or not we would have won the series...but how we went out. The 'hawks proved this season they were capable of playing a high-energy, high-skilled, cohesive team game through the month of February and in round 1 every player looked worse than their February offering. As someone who has followed hockey for about the same amount of time as you have, this is like cardinal sin #1 in just about every sport--you being your best game to the playoffs. Better officiating wouldn't have, in my opinion, changed the outcome as it was is the players aren't playing their best...we still get annihilated.
And even if we did bring our best game and still lost? It's easier to stomach like in 2009.
