Ain’t no better way to start your time coaching a team than with a win.
Tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks pulled off a win in their first game under interim head coach Derek King. It turned out to be an OT winner from Alex Debrincat that sealed that deal.
True Debrincat/Kane fashion, just a beautiful goal, then Alex heads over and grabs the puck for their new coach. As it is for any new coach coming during the team’s rough patch, there was a lot of pressure in tonight’s game. The players want to prove they’re not a lost cause, new coaches wanna come in on a good note – regardless of how it went, it was going to be a little stressful.
King just got brought in yesterday, he hasn’t had time to change up too much but as far as game one goes, I think this one went well. This team looked cohesive. There were times this season where they looked so disjointed and dead out there. Tonight, they had some bite to their game, they had some fire and drive that has been lacking. This was one of the best defensive games they’ve played all season, which is massive.
And when someone was playing like dogshit, King made them sit for it. I’ve talked about my gripes with Gustafsson’s defensive skills before, love the guy but not as one of my defensemen. Under Colliton, Gustafsson made some massive mistakes but was still seeing between 16-19 minutes a game. Well tonight, he only played 6:21. King ain’t here to let shit play fly it seems and I’m all for it.
I like King so far. It’s been 48 hours and just 1 game but he’s presented himself really well to start. He’s a big breath of fresh air in my opinion. We still have a long season ahead of us and there’s going to be some changes with a new coach around, but for now, I like this guy. I’m excited to see where he takes this team.
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