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Blackhawks continue their roll, Bulls are mostly dead, plus goodbye Jason

The Blackhawks go into their five day break on the heels of a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers.  The victory was the fifth consecu8tive road win for the Hawks.  The Hawks last three road wins this week were over the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets and, of course the Edmonton Oilers.  Those are some teams the Hawks have had problems with so it was an especially gratifying run for the Hawks.   Richard Panik had a big night last night with two goals and an assist.  Trevor vanReimsdyk had a key goal for the Hawks.  His goal put the Hawks up 3-1.  Scott Darling got a start in the nets for the Hawks, and was strong, stopping 30 of 31 shots to pick up the win.

Bad timing

I hate to see the Hawks take their break now because they’ve been playing solid hockey.  I was concerned about the Hawks scoring balance going into the season but that hasn’t been a real problem lately.  Richard Panik now has 16 goals on the season while Ryan Harman has netted 13.  The Hawks are now rolling three or sometimes even four good to decent lines out on a regular basis.

In addition to that, the Hawks are getting more balanced ice time for their defense.  Duncan Keith had 23 minutes of ice time last night, but the Hawks had five other defensemen hovering around the 20 minute mark.  That’s nice to see.

Slip sliding away

While the needle is going up for the Blackhawks, the same cannot be said for the Bulls.  Their slump/deathspiral continued Sunday with a 117-89 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.  The Bulls were once again without stars Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade.  I suspect the rate of games Wade misses will accelerate as the Bulls fall out of the playoff race.

The Bulls are sitting at 26-29 while the Timberwolves are at 21-34, but I still like the Wolves playoff chances better than the Bulls.  Look for the Bulls, under former Bulls head coach, Tom Thibodeau to improve as the season goes on.  If anybody cares, the Bulls high point men were Doug McDermott and Bobby Portis with 16 points each.  I told know if hog futures are up or down, but I’m pretty sure Bulls futures are down.

But he gets to keep the ring

Word has come out that former Cubs starter, Jason Hammel, left the Cubs, in part, because of a rift with Cubs manager, Joe Maddon.  Hammel finished last year with a record of 15-10 but wasn’t on any post season roster and obviously didn’t have the confidence of Maddon.  I can see both sides of that argument.  As a Cubs fan, I say thanks to Jason and wish him well.

More next time.