The six pictures that make up the top row of Jonathan Toews’ Getty Image page all show something similar to what you see above. Jonathan Toews with a facial expression that implies something like “F^&% F$%$ STUPID PUCK WHY DON’T YOU JUST GO IN THE STUPID NET YOU F&*%ING F*^&.”

Now, you can generally find Toews with some sort of contorted look while playing, but it’s getting pretty extreme. He pretty obviously wants to score, and win, bad.

For those who haven’t noticed – and it’s pretty clear he’s not one of those people – he’s yet to contribute a tally in the post-season. His zero goals sit beside a total of three assists, which after eight games, doesn’t quite match-up with his 48 points in 47 regular season games.

There’s a number of excuses to be made for him, as their is for most top-tier players: it’s playoffs, and he’s one of the players other teams are going to key on to shut down (Jonathan Ericsson, in particular, is making him insane). It’s playoffs, so he’s going to be paying extra-special attention to defense. And it’s playoffs, so everybody’s time and space is shrunk by the general ramped-up intensity of the game.

There’s also a number of reasons to say he’s actually playing extremely well despite not putting up the standard boxcar stats. He’s averaging 3.5 shots per game, a pace only eclipsed in the regular season by a handful of players. His advanced stats are downright gaudy, as he’s leading the way for the Blackhawks possession-wise, while suffering a 970 PDO (he’s been somewhat unlucky). And he’s certainly not shying away from “the dirty areas,” which is generally a problem for skilled players going through slumps. He’s getting chances. Read the rest of this entry »