Rozner: Impressive Blackhawks make case for defense

When the Blackhawks' stars play like stars, they know they're hard to beat.

But when the Hawks' stars play like stars and they combine it with the kind of team defense that has won them two Stanley Cups, they can start thinking about a third.

The Hawks displayed that kind of team effort Sunday in a Game 2 victory at the UC and took down the Wild 4-1 and now own a 2-0 series lead.

It was as imposing as it was unexpected, an end-to-end desire that impressed a head coach who is not prone to hyperbole.

"It was our best game all the way around," said Joel Quenneville. "Real good pace and energy from the outset. Good pace to our game defensively, solid throughout all four lines. Played the right way."

In a tight-checking game that resembled more closely a playoff hockey game than the first 60 minutes of this series, the Hawks took advantage of a few Minnesota miscues, and even after one of their own to start the third, the Hawks did not buckle at the first sign of adversity, as they have so many times this postseason.

And this time it was Minnesota coach Mike Yeo who did not recognize his squad.

"We didn't make the mistakes. I don't know what team played that game, but it wasn't us tonight," Yeo said. "The good news is this will be the last time that we say that in this series."

It helps to get good goaltending, and the Hawks got that from Corey Crawford on Sunday - save a bad goal to start the third period - but the Hawks' posture was one of responsibility, forwards with great back pressure and consistently giving the defense a chance to quickly move the puck against a fierce forecheck.

"Good defense leads to offense," said Patrick Sharp, who had the crucial third goal off a brilliant play from Teuvo Teravainen. "It's a big part of our game."

And Sharp believes the forwards owe it to the defense.

"I think we've had the best defense in the league the last few years," Sharp said. "They do so much for us offensively, giving us the puck with speed and creating for us.

"And when you see so many great offensive players backchecking and helping our defense, it gives our team a boost."

The Hawks got on the board first when Marian Hossa picked Ryan Suter's pocket in the neutral zone, leading to a short-handed goal by Jonathan Toews.

That's when Crawford took over the game and robbed the Wild on four great chances. That had the 21,934 chanting his name again - and Crawford earned it.

In the waning moments of the second period, Patrick Kane found himself trailing the play heading back to the Hawks' end and decided to cheat by the Wild blue line.

Duncan Keith saw him and made a brilliant stretch pass to find Kane, who walked in and beat Devan Dubnyk far side with 19.9 seconds remaining for a 2-0 Hawks lead.

"Good back pressure forced them to try to make a play," said Keith, who is second in the NHL with 10 points and leads in assists with 8. "Just took a look and saw (Kane) there and he made a great play to open up and give me a look."

Crawford gave up a bad goal 80 seconds into the third on a harmless wrist shot from the boards by Matt Dumba that went off the goalie and found the top of the net, but six minutes later Sharp moved in on his off-wing just like Kane and also beat Dubnyk far side for a 3-1 Hawks lead at 7:39.

That stemmed the tide and the Hawks were back in control. Kane's empty-netter finished the scoring with 2:07 remaining.

"We should be excited to play in front of our crowd," Yeo said, "but we have to treat it like a Game 7 right now."

The Hawks also won the first two at home against Minnesota last year and promptly played a couple of stinkers on the road.

"We'll try to learn from that," Sharp said. "It's an opportunity to improve."

It's tempting to think that the Hawks have found their game again, but they haven't put together back-to-back efforts like this one in months.

Nevertheless, it was impressive - and if they play like this in Minnesota it's going to be a short series.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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