Crawford sensational in Hawks' 2-0 victory
After returning home having allowed late leads to slip away twice against St. Louis, you'd think it would take a lot for Blackhawks fans to jump on the Corey Crawford bandwagon.
You'd be right.
It did take a lot.
In the most crucial game to date, Corey Crawford came up with his biggest performance to date, stopping all 34 shots he faced, many in spectacular fashion, to lead the Hawks to a 2-0 victory over St. Louis and cut the Blues' lead in the series to a much more manageable 2-1 advantage.
Before the first period even came to a close, the sold-out house at the United Center was already letting the Hawks goaltender have it - but in a good way though - with chants of "Corey, Corey" as he stopped shot after shot in the final frantic seconds of a Blues' power play.
"That's pretty cool when they're chanting your name like that," said Jonathan Toews, whose first-period goal held up all the way until Marcus Kruger bagged an empty-netter in the final 20 seconds to seal the deal. "It's probably something he'll remember a long time."
No question.
Because after his late-game struggles in St. Louis, Crawford publicly admitted he had to play better. His coach didn't disagree, and that's why Joel Quenneville seemed a little extra pleased with his goaltender's effort Monday.
"I thought it was a great response and tremendous effort by him," Quenneville said. "He was square, he was solid, in control. I thought his rebound effectiveness today was as good as we've seen.
"So it was a real solid game for him and a tight one throughout."
And his teammates were just as pumped for Crawford, especially after he came out and publicly admitted he had to do better.
"Yeah, absolutely," Toews said. "It just sets an example for everyone in this room when you have guys with attitudes like that, that are very selfless and not thinking about themselves and whether they're being criticized or not.
"He wants to win. That's all that matters to him. And I think that shows a lot to the rest of the guys in the room."
Despite the loss, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock was upbeat about the effort of his guys.
"We played a great game," Hitchcock said. "We really played hard, we really played well. We did a lot of the things that we needed to do to win the hockey game.
"You have to give their goalie credit. He was good, especially late."
Indeed, Crawford was, stepping up in as close to a must-win game as the Hawks have had since Game 5 against Detroit last year.
"He made a lot of big saves," said Duncan Keith, who made one of his own as well in the first period. "It was a big game. We're right back in it now.
"We have the chance to tie the series up next game on home ice, so we're already excited about that."