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Rozner: Teuvo time serving Blackhawks well

It's early in the third period Sunday night.

The Blackhawks are playing their best game of the postseason and have a comfortable 2-0 lead while suffocating the Wild when Corey Crawford gives up another bad Corey Crawford goal.

The goaltender goes down early and whiffs on Matt Dumba's soft wrist shot from the top of the circle near the right boards.

Short side and top shelf after it catches a piece of Crawford's arm, it's the kind of goal that has really hurt the Hawks this postseason, teams swarming the Hawks with blood in the water.

But this time it does not. The Hawks hold on for the next few minutes and then Teuvo Teravainen makes a play that changes the game. It might be one of those you look back on a month from now and wonder if it was a turning point.

As Antoine Vermette presses hard on the forecheck and forces a bad pass through the neutral zone, Teravainen is right where he's supposed to be near the center line. The puck caroms off a Minnesota stick, Teravainen gets to a loose puck and sees the open ice, even though his back is to the open space.

This can't be taught. This is the instinct of a skill player who can feel the numbers in his favor.

With Dumba missing the pass and the Wild going for a change, Teravainen knows where to go with the puck, while at the same moment Patrick Sharp also feels the numbers in the Hawks' favor and goes all out to a spot that the puck should reach if the player with the puck has the understanding of time, space and man advantage.

Teravainen has this understanding.

With his back to the Wild goal, he banks it off the boards past a Wild player to an area he thinks Sharp will be, even though he can't see Sharp, and Sharp is 40 feet away from the puck.

It works perfectly. Sharp in full stride picks up the puck and busts down his off wing with a 2-on-1 and maybe a 3-on-1. Teravainen has wheeled on a dime and caught the play. Leaning hard on his stick, Sharp snaps one past Devan Dubnyk far side and low for a 3-1 Hawks lead.

The game at this point, for all intents and purposes, is over.

It's a subtle but brilliant play that only a few players on the Hawks - Patrick Kane being one - can see and make.

"He's got high-end skill, some of the highest I've seen in my years as a pro," Sharp said. "He's figuring out what he can get away with playing this type of game.

"Playing in the playoffs is huge for him. You see the play that he makes there on the goal, just a smart play, first defensively and then chips it by the defense and it results in a goal.

"It's nice to see him get better and better every game."

After sitting the final four games of the Nashville series, the 20-year-old Teravainen was back in the lineup against Minnesota in place of the ineffective Kris Versteeg, scoring the game-winner in Game 1 and setting up the most important goal of Game 2.

His play is crucial because Sharp can produce if he gets a little help and now he's getting some from Teravainen and Vermette, and the line has 6 points in 2 games.

"I think the more experience I get in the season, I feel better every time on the ice and feel more comfortable," Teravainen said. "I try to make some plays, but also play smart."

It's hard for a young player on a team with a veteran coach whose tough-love style can rob a kid of his confidence. The flip side is Joel Quenneville loves the hot hand and if Teravainen takes care of business on the defensive end, he will get important minutes.

"I trust him. I've always trusted him," Quenneville said. "Great awareness, comes up with a lot of loose pucks, good play recognition, and made some nice plays off the rush individually and had some decent looks.

"You like his game, both sides and both ways, and he just keeps getting better."

It's absurd to suggest Teravainen will ever be Kane, but there is so much about the way he skates, stick handles and sees the game that reminds you of Kane.

And as long as he gets a chance to play, he's going to keep getting better every game.

Confidence, after all, goes a long way in the postseason.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.

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