Brightside’s Three Stars:

1. Patrick “Showtime” Kane

2. Niklas “Hjammer” Hjalmarrson

3. “The Terminator” Duncan Keith

So the Hawks gave that game up.

They had the chance to win that game well into the third period. They lost on a mistake from to-that-point Norris caliber Seabrook. Don’t know what happened there, but Seabs will take responsibility for his mistake and will be back to playing really good hockey.

Then in OT Q had Kane playing with two defensemen when the goal was allowed – again, Kane is one of the most prolific scorers in the NHL and one of it’s best players. He’s probably Hart favorite to this point. He’s certainly ours. But he’s not known for his defense – as shown, for good reason. That’s the one knock on him, play wise.

Daley still needs a turn around on puck luck, but the dude has been improving every game of this Circus trip. Weirdly, it seems he and Roszie are a perfectly capable defense pairing. I wouldn’t have them out there in crucial situations, but at around thirteen to fifteen minutes a night, they will be able to handle themselves. That’s all we can expect from them right now.

The biggest problem was turnovers. They had a lot of them. It’s something technical and defined – and something easy to work on. Just practicing it will address it, luckily. Another issue is faceoffs. Non-Toews centers lost a lot of them. That’s another practicable skill, however. Practice with Shaw and Toews. There’s a reason Shaw would always take faceoffs. He’s second best on the team after Toews. So it seems like a lot of the issues can be solved by practing with Shaw.

That’s not to say Shaw is perfect. He had a few chances he failed to capitalize on. That’s something the whole team can work on. Toews isn’t perfect either – far from it. He’s one of the most talented centers in the league. Even Q thinks he needs to keep his gloves on. Stop focusing on brawling and start focusing on scoring again. Panarin needs to regain focus in that area as well. Too much passing it away. He’s better when he shoots.

Takeaways:

Kane’s point streak is now historic. I don’t expect it to end soon.

Duncan Keith continues to prove he’s one of the most reliable players in the game. And a terminator. The man can’t be human.

Darling kept us in that game. The goaltending on this team is far above their stats.

3-1-2 through the circus trip is a successful circus trip. Points in five games have lifted the team to third place in the best division in hockey. They have a game over Nashville and Minnesota, but as long as the Hawks continue their Wild-killing ways, that’s not an issue.