Duncan Keith made some questionable comments toward a female reporter this week. (Jimmy Simmons/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

So Duncan Keith is being pilloried as a sexist this morning. Maybe he should be, maybe not. All I know for sure is that he has dealt with scores of female reporters over the course of his eight-year NHL career. The fact that none of them has joined in the public dog pile is telling.

But Keith might get stuck with the tag after the text of his dismissive exchange with Karen Thomson, a reporter with Team 1040 radio in Vancouver, went viral.

Thomson caught up with Keith Monday night after the Hawks were manhandled in Vancouver. Her question about a missed penalty call leading to the Canucks’ third goal might have been off the mark, but it wasn’t unreasonable.

Keith’s response, on the other hand, was the sort of defensive outburst any seasoned reporter has seen dozens of times.

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Tyler Seguin apologized for a homophobic tweet, but could face further discipline. (Michael Tureski/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

An annotated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• A couple of the NHL’s biggest stars stirred up controversy last night with some poorly chosen words. In Vancouver, Duncan Keith took a swipe at a female reporter’s credibility in a postgame interview. Earlier, Tyler Seguin threw down a casually homophobic slur on Twitter. While he deleted the tweet and apologized, he’ll probably have to answer for it in some fashion. It’ll be very interesting to see what action the league/PA take in the wake of the NHL’s recent partnership with the You Can Play Project.

• Everyone understands that ticket prices go up for the playoffs, but the Maple Leafs are really putting the screws to their long-suffering fans.

• Unlikely heroes powered the Winnipeg Jets to a huge win over the Sabres, setting up tonight’s battle against the Capitals with the Southeast division lead on the line.

• Here’s the view from Washington.

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The last time the Hawks met the Sharks, Jonathan Toews and Joe Thornton squared off. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

By Allan Muir

Sharks at Blackhawks: 7:30 CST, NHL Network (US), CSN Chicago, CSN California

The set-up

The Blackhawks can lay claim to the best start in NHL history against the Sharks tonight. Their shootout win over Vancouver on Wednesday gave Chicago a point in 16 straight games and a share of the current mark set in 2006-07 by the Anaheim Ducks. They’ll face a feckless San Jose side that finally snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over St. Louis on Tuesday. After going unbeaten in their first seven games, the Sharks have seen their offense go cold, but they’re coming off two days of practice time that allowed them to work on the power play and at generating chances five-on-five.

This will be the third meeting between these two teams in 18 days, so familiarity may breed contempt. It’ll be worth watching to see if any hostilities carry over from their last get-together, when captains Jonathan Toews and Joe Thornton dropped the gloves.

Keys to the game

• Blackhawks: Get a lead and stomp down hard on the gas pedal. They allowed the Canucks to dictate the pace early on Wednesday, then coasted through the third period after a thoroughly dominant second, ultimately coughing up a point with sloppy play and lazy penalties as the game wore down. They can’t afford to let the Sharks circle and wait for them to let up.

• Sharks: Commit to ugly, goalmouth hockey. There’s no offensive flow on this team right now. They’ve scored two goals or less in regulation in nine of their last 10 games and the power play that propelled their hot start has just two goals to show for its last 42 chances. So forget pretty and fight off the instinct to make that one last pass. Get as many pucks on net as possible and follow them to the crease with grim purpose.

• Probable starting goalies: Ray Emery (6-0-0, 2.27 GAA, .925 save pct.) vs. Antti Niemi (7-2-3, 1.86, .933)

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