Quenneville: No goalie controversy, but Emery starting Thursday
Corey Crawford won't be starting Thursday night against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum, but that doesn't mean he has lost his job as the Blackhawks' No. 1 goaltender.
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville is coming back with backup Ray Emery because of how well he played in Monday's shootout loss to Phoenix and last Saturday at St. Louis, and not solely because Crawford has been struggling.
In other words, Quenneville says don't read anything into Emery getting added playing time while Crawford works on improving his game in practice.
“I don't call this a goalie controversy at all,” Quenneville said. “If you look at all the teams in the league, I think every goalie that wasn't a starter gets a chance to get a couple games in a row or even more. Over the course of a season you're going to see some things where the other guy gets multiple starts.”
This isn't last season when Marty Turco couldn't hold the No. 1 job because of inconsistent play and eventually lost it to Crawford, or the year before when Cristobal Huet got worse as the schedule progressed and eventually surrendered the No. 1 role to Antti Niemi.
Quenneville and those in the front office still believe in Crawford, who has played more good games than bad ones this season.
As recently as the end of the circus trip, Crawford was excellent in a 1-0 loss at San Jose and a 2-1 win at Los Angeles. Last Friday, Crawford made 21 saves in the third period alone in beating the Islanders in a shootout.
The Hawks' defensive problems haven't been the result of bad goaltending.
“Our defensive situation, our team game has got to be better,” Quenneville said.
Crawford knows he needs to be better as well, as his .896 save percentage indicates. That's the fourth worst save percentage of any NHL starter.
“It seems like it's been up and down,” Crawford said. “Every second game seems to be a rough one for me. I'm just trying to work hard and battle through it. That's the only way I see getting out of it.”
What bothers Crawford about his play is the lack of big saves at key times.
“I've been pretty good technically, but it seems like I'm not making big saves night in and night out,” Crawford said. “I'm still confident. I still think I can do the job so I'm not worried. My goal is to be solid every night.”
Emery has played well for the Hawks, going 4-1-2 with a 2.93 goals-against average. His only blip was the 9-2 loss at Edmonton last month, but that was more a total team breakdown than on Emery.
“He's coming off two real solid games for us and deserves a chance,” Quenneville said. “He's an experienced guy who is proven in our league. You look at the games he's played and he's got points in every game except the one game, which was our toughest game of the year.”
Crawford was on the ice a half-hour early before practice on Wednesday working with goalie coach Stephane Waite.
“They can work on some things and get that confidence in the net, whether it's handling the puck, rebound control or fighting through traffic,” Quenneville said. “I know Steph's going to be working with him the next few days and get his game back where it needs to be.”
If Emery plays plays well against the Islanders it will be interesting to see who starts on Sunday against San Jose at the United Center.
“I'm not going further than one game at a time,” Quenneville said.
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