Can the Blackhawks finish off the Wild Thursday night?
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The home team was coming in waves. Crisp passes. Laserlike shots. Pucks that nearly found their targets.
The Blackhawks knew the first 10 minutes of Tuesday night's game at the Xcel Energy Center would be tough to get through, but they kept their cool … and Minnesota off the scoreboard.
But not just for those 10 minutes. Or the next 10. Or the 10 after that.
No, Corey Crawford and the Hawks blanked Minnesota for all 60 minutes and walked out with a 1-0 Game 3 victory that all but put this series on ice.
Patrick Kane scored the game's lone goal on the power play at the 14:06 mark of the first period, and Crawford was flawless, stopping 30 shots to give the Hawks a 3-0 series lead with Game 4 here Thursday.
“It was good for myself, but as a team, too,” Crawford said of the shutout.
Crawford hit the nail on the head. It was an honest and direct Niklas Hjalmarsson who implored his teammates to play better team defense after the Hawks defeated Minnesota 4-3 in Game 1.
Since then, they've gotten the message. Loud and clear.
The entire defensive corps was all over the place, poking away pucks, blocking shots — doing absolutely everything possible to frustrate Minnesota.
The best example came when Brent Seabrook laid out to stop a pass that might have gotten through to Matt Cooke with 12:52 left in the second period. Seabrook, along with Johnny Oduya and Michal Rozsival, all were credited with 4 blocked shots.
The Wild has 1 measly goal since the second period of Game 1, a span of 150 minutes, 30 seconds.
Minnesota had some chances, but Crawford turned away Mikael Granlund on a breakaway in the second period and also got his glove on a puck that was rolling into the net with just more than 11 minutes left in the game.
“Crawford, he's a star against us,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “He's (Martin) Brodeur. He's (Patrick) Roy. He's everybody against (us), so we've got to find a way to solve that.”
Crawford's save percentage is .962 since taking over for Scott Darling in Game 6 against Nashville in the first round, and it's .957 vs. the Wild.
The Hawks, 1 of 17 on the power play in the last seven games, cashed in on their only chance when Kane took a pass from Andrew Shaw and ripped it between Devan Dubnyk's legs. It extended Kane's points streak to six games (5 goals, 3 assists).
“He's got a hot stick and he's dangerous,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “I think he gives a lot of different looks to the goalies. You don't know where it's coming off his stick. He's got some torque to it as well.”
As for Crawford, he keeps getting asked if he's doing anything differently since a rough stretch vs. the Predators. The simple answer is no.
The bigger reason for the amazing numbers is that his teammates are allowing fewer golden opportunities to dangerous shooters.
“When you're a good player, you believe in yourself. People want to say they don't think you're good. It's just talk. You believe in yourself,” Duncan Keith said. “As a team we know what kind of goalie he is, how he's been for us over the last four years.
“When we don't play in front of him — hang him out to dry on some plays — what can you do? It's a team game. We win as a team; we lose as a team.
“I just think with Crow it's just believing in yourself. I think that's all it was — is understanding that sometimes things aren't going to go your way. Just stay even and get through it.”
He has done that and more. Now with 1 more victory the Hawks will advance to the conference finals for the fifth time in seven seasons.
As for Minnesota? With only four teams every coming back from an 0-3 deficit, the Wild is definitely on death's door.
“We've just got to look at it as game by game now,” the Wild's Charlie Coyle said. “It's up to us. We're still breathing. We're still alive here.”
In all reality, though? RIP, Wild.
Three stars of the game
1. Corey Crawford, Hawks: Stopped every shot thrown at him, including many right on the doorstep.
2. Patrick Kane, Hawks: Scored the game's only goal and extended his points streak to six games. Now has 6 goals in the postseason.
3. Devan Dubnyk, Wild: Impressive performance in a loss. Stopped 21 of 22 shots.
— John Dietz