Crawford, Hawks roll on with win over Wings
DETROIT — The Blackhawks have never stopped believing they are one of the NHL’s elite teams, and now they’re starting to play like it.
Looking rested, refreshed and full of energy after five days off, the Hawks had it all going Saturday afternoon in a 4-1 victory over the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.
The Hawks needed this game if they’re going to catch Detroit and win the Central Division, and they got it thanks to clutch goaltending from Corey Crawford in the third period and 2 goals from Tomas Kopecky.
The Hawks trail the Red Wings by 8 points with three games still to play against their rivals.
“They’re not the only team we’re trying to catch,” Patrick Sharp said. “There’s a bunch there.”
The victory left the Hawks 5-0-1 in their last six games.
“We earned this win, and that’s what we need to do from now on,” Kopecky said. “We’ve got to set our standards really high and just push ourselves.”
Crawford made 36 saves, including 20 in the third period with the Red Wings buzzing the net regularly.
It was a strong response after the soft goal Crawford allowed 10 minutes into the first period that gave Detroit a 1-0 lead.
Crawford tried to steer Cory Emmerton’s bouncing soft toss into the corner but instead swatted it into the net.
“It was a weird bounce on that one and it happened a couple times,” Crawford said. “You kind of wonder how you let that one in and then once you do that it’s time to move on and keep playing strong.
“Our guys had a great first period, so it’s tough when we’re pressing the whole period and then they get one like that. But we got a timely goal after that, and that was key.”
Crawford’s composure following the tough goal impressed his teammates.
“He could have easily got rattled by that and let it affect him, but he showed good poise there, and that’s the sign of a good goaltender, to let that one go,” Duncan Keith said. “He played great the rest of the game.”
Dave Bolland’s power-play goal at 16:37 made it 1-1 after the first period. Bolland then set up Kopecky’s redirection on a power play at 10:04 of the second period to put the Hawks ahead to stay.
Bolland’s goal and assist gave him 8 points in the last five games.
Kopecky put the Hawks up 3-1 at 15:49 of the second period when he banged home a Marian Hossa rebound for his 10th goal of the season.
“I thought we had a real good start to the game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “They came at us pretty good in the third and I thought Crow stopped several quality chances. He battled as the game kept going and got some real good confidence. You’ve got to commend him on how his composure was and battling back.”
If this finally is the significant roll the Hawks have been looking for, they still aren’t taking anything for granted.
“I don’t think we’re focused on trying to win six, seven, eight games in a row,” Keith said. “We’re taking it one game at a time and seeing where it goes from there.
“We know there’s still a lot of improvement we can make. Trying to get as many points as we can each game at a time is the focus.”