Blackhawks' Crawford back to being his old self
One goalie had been standing on his head for nearly 3½ months.
The other? Well, not much more than a week ago, many fans wanted his head on a platter.
But in the crazy world of playoff hockey, things can turn in a hurry, and they certainly have for Minnesota's Devan Dubnyk and the Blackhawks' Corey Crawford.
Dubnyk was one of the best stories in the NHL after being traded from Arizona in mid-January and then saving the Wild's season. In the span of just two games in Chicago, though, he and his teammates came up incredibly small and flew back to the Twin Cities in serious jeopardy of being eliminated by the Hawks for the third straight season.
Then there's Crawford.
Yanked in and out of the lineup against Nashville, the veteran has steadied his personal ship and is a big reason the Hawks are up 2-0 in this second-round series.
"He seems to be confident back in the net there, and it's good to see," Patrick Kane said after Sunday's 4-1 Game 2 victory at the United Center.
Since being reinserted in Game 6 against the Predators, Crawford has turned away 73 of 77 shots (.948). Just as important, though, is how he looks in net.
It's a sharper, quicker Crawford than fans saw in the first round, and that was on full display in the second period of Game 2 moments after Jonathan Toews' short-handed goal gave the Hawks a 1-0 second-period lead.
The first big save came as winger Kyle Brodziak moved in on a breakaway, and Crawford used his left pad to keep the puck out of the net.
"I kind of got stuck on one side of the net," Crawford said. "I felt like he was going to maybe shoot it, but he hung on to it and tried to wrap it far side. I just stuck my leg out."
Moments later, the always-deadly Zach Parise nearly put in a rebound, but Crawford's right pad stuffed him not once, but twice.
"That was huge," coach Joel Quenneville said. "They (were) swarming on the net, 2 or 3 shots, crowd went crazy. Corey was solid. They had a couple of big flurries in the game, but Corey was outstanding in those situations.
"(He) kept the momentum going our way even though they had a couple of good looks."
Said Kane: "He's a huge part of the reason we won - keeping the game at 1-0 with a couple big saves there."
One scary moment came late in the game when a slap shot from defenseman Marco Scandella hit Crawford in the mask, denting his new protective gear in the process.
"I didn't pick it up right away," Crawford said. "It was kind of a bomb from almost the corner. I saw it last second, kind of turned my head and lost my balance a little bit."
Other than that shot, a third-period goal from Matt Dumba in Game 2 and a brief flurry in Game 1's first period, Minnesota has done very little to make Crawford waver. If that doesn't change Tuesday, this series will be well on its way to being over as the Hawks look to steamroll to a fifth Western Conference final in the last seven seasons.
Not that the Blackhawks are about to look that far ahead.
"I think we should be ready to see a different team (in Game 3)," Jonathan Toews said Monday.
The Hawks have had a particularly difficult time in Game 3 matches since 2009, going just 4-12.
"Obviously these are big games for them," Toews said. "They're going to be desperate at home, so we've put ourselves in a good position with the first 2 wins at home, but hopefully we can kind of learn from what happened last year (when the Hawks lost Games 3 and 4 in Minnesota) to try and steal at least one on the road here and put them in a tough spot."
Versteeg update:
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said injured forward Kris Versteeg would make the trip and said he could participate in the morning skate before Game 3 on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center. Versteeg has a lower-body injury and hasn't skated since Wednesday.
Toews a finalist:
Forwards Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks, Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks and Andrew Ladd of the Winnipeg Jets are the three finalists for the 2014-15 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award, which is presented "to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season," the NNL announced Monday.
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