Rozner: Blackhawks exhale after surviving Preds

The record books will say the Blackhawks won a playoff series Saturday night.

But it's more like they survived a playoff series Saturday night.

With a late goal from Duncan Keith and a 4-3 victory over Nashville, the Hawks captured their first-round series 4 games to 2, but the Hawks were rarely the superior team in the series and they have a lot to clean up as they await the winner of Minnesota-St. Louis.

"We've got to be better. Absolutely," said Keith, who played 28 minutes and had 3 points but at times struggled as much as anyone. "It's nice to win here and get some rest, but, at the same time, as we go along we have to know that we need a better game.

"That's a great team over there. It was a tough series, but we're going to need to be even better and more consistent overall in our team game."

Ideally, a team would love to emerge from the first postseason series playing great defense with sound goaltending, but the Hawks can claim neither after Scott Darling was pulled in the first period Saturday at the UC.

Corey Crawford was back in the net after a ridiculous first period that saw the two teams combine for 6 goals in Game 6, and Crawford threw a shutout, but he faced only 13 shots in 48 minutes and admitted to being a bit shaky at the outset.

"To be honest, I didn't have to make too many key saves in relief," Crawford said. "The first one clipped off my glove and off the post, but I settled in pretty good after that and started seeing pucks better."

Darling had allowed only 5 goals in his first 13 periods in the series, but he gave up 3 goals in 2:27 of the third period in Game 5, and then 3 more in the first 11:16 of Game 6. After 4 goals on 131 shots, Darling surrendered 7 goals on 40 shots.

There's no doubt it will be Crawford starting Game 1 of the conference semis.

"We'll let you know," coach Joel Quenneville said with a smile. "I think you know what I'll do going forward."

The Hawks were far from their best in this series and shockingly sloppy in their own end, which was a result of poor team defense as much as the defense and goaltending alone.

"Five-on-five, neutral zone, our end, we have to be better in all aspects," Quenneville said. "We get down 3-0 and 3-1 and win games twice in this series. Can't expect to do that.

"Hopefully, we'll learn our lesson. Hopefully, we'll get some excitement off this win and know we have to be better going forward."

You would think the Hawks would have sailed in a game in which Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Keith each had 2 points in the first period, but the Hawks needed their stars merely to mount a comeback after twice trailing by a pair of goals in the first 11 minutes.

They also needed Toews to set up Keith one more time with less than four minutes remaining in the game, and Keith's brilliant play to buy time and shoot through a maze of five players got the Hawks to the next series.

"Your best players have to be your best players in these games," Toews said. "But we also know we have to be better as we move along."

Nashville is no pushover, but the Preds were also missing their best player in Shea Weber and they nearly pushed the Hawks to the brink.

That sometimes happens to championship teams, who only hit their stride when they absolutely have to in the later rounds.

But the Hawks too frequently looked like a team with its best players exhausted from deep playoff runs and having to play heavy minutes with too many passengers and not enough playmakers.

"I feel like we can have better starts and there's a lot of things we can take pride in doing better," Kane said. "I'm happy with a first-round win, but by no means is this how we want to be playing at the end of the season."

The Hawks don't need to be told that they were too often chasing the Preds, who more often than not were the faster, smarter and more aggressive team, at times embarrassing the Hawks in their own end.

They don't need to be told how difficult it will be in the next round.

They don't need to be told that they narrowly survived this challenge.

They already know they have been served a serious reminder that they better find a higher level to their game.

And fast.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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