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Blackhawks must move forward without star goalie Corey Crawford

Corey Crawford has been one of the best goalies in the league this season at keeping pucks out of his net, but it was his teammates who did a masterful job of deflecting questions about the health of the Blackhawks goaltender on Friday.

Crawford has been on injured reserve since Dec. 27 with a head ailment.

Whether it's vertigo or post-concussion syndrome, there's still “no news” on when he might return and be able to help the Hawks crawl out of last place in the Central Division.

Here's a quick rundown on responses by coach Joel Quenneville, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on the Crawford situation after the team returned from its bye week and practiced at MB Ice Arena on Friday:

Quenneville:

• First and foremost, the coach said it is his “expectations and hope” that Crawford will return this season.

• Has there been any progress? Not really. “Progress would be to me … would be him getting ready to get on the ice.”

• Crawford is recovering in Chicago, but the coach wouldn't say if team doctors or outside doctors are dealing with the issue.

• Is there concern for Crawford's long-term health? “We're not talking about the injury. He's got an upper-body injury. I respect the question. We don't discuss injuries, but we expect him to be fine.”

• Did the injury happen in a game? “I don't think it was a defining blow.”

Toews:

• The Hawks' captain said he's reached out to Crawford with “a few text messages here and there.”

• Can you tell us how his mood is? “That's really not my place to talk on any of those matters. My focus is on my game right now and making sure I'm ready for (Saturday) night and making sure our team's ready to play well (against the Islanders).”

• Are you concerned about him possibly being out for the season? “As a team we're just taking things day by day. We wish him the best in his recovery. When we get him back we always know he's going to be a great addition to our team. For now we have to focus on what we have in our locker room.”

Kane:

• Have you been kept in the loop and do you know where he is on a daily basis? “Umm. I don't know if that's really anything for me to comment on. We know he's trying to get better and we know he's doing everything he can to get back and playing hockey. That's kind of where we're at with that situation.”

So there you have it.

At this point, the best-case scenario for the Hawks would be that Crawford could return in 2-3 weeks. More realistically, we're probably looking at early March, if he returns at all.

In the meantime, it will be up to Anton Forsberg and Jeff Glass to earn the Hawks points and move them back into a playoff spot. Right now they are last in the Central Division and 12th in the Western Conference.

We've all seen how quickly things can change with Colorado winning eight straight (the Avs would qualify if the playoffs started Thursday) and the Kings losing five straight to fall into ninth in the West.

“It changes quickly and the value of those 2 points are tremendously huge,” Quenneville said. “We've dug a huge hole. Now it's up to us get ourselves back into contention again. That's our challenge.”

It begins Saturday against the Islanders at the United Center and continues against two Eastern Conference powers in Tampa Bay and Toronto.

After that, the Hawks hit the road for seven of their next nine games. Something like a 20-14-3 finish might be good enough to secure the second wild-card spot, but that's only going to happen if the Hawks play with urgency, desperation and intensity night in and night out.

“At this pace, we're probably not a playoff team and that's unacceptable for every guy in this room who wants to play in the playoffs and is expected to play in the playoffs,” said veteran winger Tommy Wingels. “This current pace isn't going to make it.

“We've talked about it — we can all be better. Even if you've had a great stretch so far, you need to be better. And if you're not happy with your game, you've got to find a way to be better as well.”

Said Kane: “We feel we have the group in here. Just got to put it together for a consistent stretch here and hopefully get on a run. If we do that we'll probably be hot going into playoffs and hopefully good things can happen.”

• Follow John on Twitter @johndietzdh

Blackhawks vs. New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m.

TV: NBCSCH

Radio: WGN 720-AM

The skinny: Just like the Blackhawks, the Islanders (23-20-4) are trying to stay alive in the wild-card race. New York is 3-7-0 in the last 10 and lost its last two to New Jersey and Boston by a combined 9-3 score. … Anders Lee (26 goals) and John Tavares (25G, 30A) are the team's leading goal scorers. Lee has just 2 goals in the last nine games. … Jaroslav Halak has allowed 4 or 5 goals in six of his last nine starts. Halak has the second-worst goals-against average (3.47) since Nov. 1 among goalies with at least 13 appearances. Only teammate Thomas Greiss is worse at 3.95. … The Islanders rank second in goals (3.4 per game), last in goals allowed (3.7) and 30th on the penalty kill (73.3 percent).

Next: Tampa Bay Lightning at United Center, 7:30 p.m. Monday

— John Dietz

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