Blackhawks’ Crawford shows best defense starts in goal
Maybe the Blackhawks did learn something during one of the worst losing streaks in franchise history.
Time will tell if the Hawks actually are a better team defensively for having gone through what they did in those 9 straight losses, but Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues at the United Center was encouraging in that regard.
The Hawks won a defensive struggle against the NHL’s best defensive team, and they did it behind goalie Corey Crawford’s 29 saves.
Showing that great goaltending is ultimately the best defense, Crawford made 14 of his saves in the first period and kept the Hawks in it until Duncan Keith, Dave Bolland and Marian Hossa scored goals in the third period.
It was the third win in a row for the Hawks coming out of their nine-game skid and third straight for Crawford.
“We needed a goalie win, and I thought today was a goalie win,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
Nobody on the Hawks’ roster took more heat during the losing streak than Crawford, who admits his game did take a turn for the worse on the long road trip.
Crawford losing his net and allowing soft goals was becoming a regular occurrence, and he knew it.
“I’ve made a couple adjustments,” Crawford said. “I think I’ve been in more control. I thought I was starting to run out of position and I was ending up out of my net where it was costing us maybe a goal every game. That’s way too much.
“I’m just trying to be in more control and more patient and let stuff come to me instead of trying to get out and be aggressive. Just read the play and have confidence in my positioning where I don’t have to run out like that on the side. Just wait and trust my reaction time.”
If the Hawks were even thinking about trying to add a veteran goalie before the Feb. 27 trade deadline — and there were discussions about it — Crawford’s last three games likely put all that to rest.
“I was always comfortable with our goalies,” said Quenneville, who likes the way Crawford has handled the adversity in just his first full season as the Hawks’ No. 1 goaltender.
“We know the scrutiny goaltenders go through,” Quenneville said. “They’re under the microscope and they get evaluated a lot more than players in front of them. They come under fire when you’re not winning, and they get some accolades when you’re doing all right.
“He had such a great end to the season that the standard this season might have been a little high. He had a decent start and he’s been a little inconsistent, but you’ve got to commend him for how he stuck with it, worked his way through it. He’s proven it to us that he’s capable of doing it.”
Playing the Blues these days is a test of patience, which the Hawks passed.
Down 1-0, they hung in there until the third period when Keith scored at 4:52 on a slap shot past goalie Brian Elliott.
Bolland put the Hawks ahead with 6:57 to play when his centering pass was deflected in by the Blues’ David Backes.
Hossa added an empty netter in the final minute.
“That was a really big game for us, and it was good in a lot of ways that we were able to play a patient game,” Keith said. “We stuck with it and didn’t panic and grinded it out for a win.
“We learned a lot there in that losing streak and I think we brought some of those lessons we learned into tonight’s game. We have to keep playing the right way.”
tsassone@dailyherald.com