Darling's patience, poise paying off
The North Iowa Outlaws. The Mississippi RiverKings. The Florida Everblades. The Wheeling Nailers. The Louisiana IceGators.
Those are just five of the 14 teams in nine years that Scott Darling played for while never giving up on his dream of one day reaching the NHL.
Blocking the goalie's path, though, was an alcohol problem caused by the fact that he was suffering from social anxiety, a fact he told the Hockey News in November.
“I wasn't comfortable as a human being,” Darling said then. “I didn't think people liked me.”
He certainly knows better now as no player at the United Center received a louder pregame roooooooooar Sunday than the 6-foot-6 Lemont native, and he did not disappoint, turning away 35 shots in the Blackhawks' 4-2 Game 3 victory over the Predators.
He was asked afterward if he ever thought the NHL dream was dead.
“I never closed that door,” Darling said. “The motto that my dad told me was, ‘Saw the wood in front of you. If you keep playing well, someone will notice.'
“That's what I've been trying to do is just play good where I'm at and when I get a chance to move up, just try to make the most of the opportunity. That's what I did to get here.”
The Hawks got goals from Andrew Desjardins, Jonathan Toews, Brandon Saad and Brent Seabrook in taking a 2-1 series lead. Marian Hossa had 2 assists and 6 shots on goal.
Game 4 is Tuesday at the United Center.
Darling has saved 77 of 79 shots in two appearances in this series and has a .973 save percentage in three games against the Predators.
“Certainly he did everything he could to get himself back in the net (for Game 4),” coach Joel Quenneville said. “Rock solid today.”
What specifically does Quenneville like about how Darling plays?
“His positioning, the way he anticipates, challenges, rebound control, handling the puck outside of the net,” Quenneville said. “He made a lot of nice touches off it as well. (He) just shows a lot of patience and poise.”
The Hawks decided to sit Corey Crawford after the Stanley Cup-winning goalie allowed 9 goals in just four periods during Games 1 and 2.
When asked about Crawford's response, Darling said he “was great. We're a very, very good goalie tandem when it comes to (our) relationship. He was happy for me and was being positive. It was good.”
Desjardins, who came to the Hawks at the trade deadline from San Jose, was seeing his first playing time of the series and the Hawks held a 1-0 lead 14:48 into the first period.
But 32 seconds later, the Preds answered to tie it.
Thirty-six seconds into the second period, Toews took a pass from Hossa and beat Pekka Rinne (26 saves), making it 2-1 Hawks.
Again, the Preds answered, this time 22 seconds later.
Finally, Brandon Saad gave the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish at 3:38 of the second. One of Darling's biggest saves came 31 seconds after Saad's goal when he smothered a Viktor Stalberg blast. The 22,020 fans unleashed a solid cheer after that one, perhaps breathing a sigh of relief in the process.
“Darls made a big save there to keep us in the lead,” Duncan Keith said. “Those are little plays there that are usually the difference in the game.”
Said Predators coach Peter Laviolette: “He made some big saves, some we probably wished we had another look at.”
No worries there, Peter. You'll likely be looking at him plenty more as long as this series continues.