Crawford does OK in tough spot

It was hardly the way Corey Crawford wanted to make his playoff debut.

The 24-year-old backup goaltender entered his first NHL game of the 2008-09 season in the second period Sunday, when Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville pulled starter Cristobal Huet, who was making his first playoff start in place of injured Nikolai Khabibulin.

Huet allowed 4 goals in the first 24 minutes of a 6-1 loss to Detroit at the United Center.

"I wanted to change the momentum in the second," Quenneville said. "We went about it that way."

In nearly 16 minutes of action, Crawford allowed 1 goal on 7 shots. The goal by Henrik Zetterberg was scored while the Red Wings were playing with a two-man advantage.

"He did a great job," Troy Brouwer said. "He's thrown into a playoff game like that - it's got to be tough. He handled it great, handled it as a professional."

Crawford said Huet shouldn't bear the blame for the loss.

"He's such a good goaltender and a great competitor," he said. "To come into a game like that with all the pressure resting on his shoulders is incredibly tough. You don't give all the responsibility for our play on one player. It's tough. It was just one of the games that everything just kind of fell apart."

On Friday night Crawford was watching Game 3 of the series dressed in street clothes on the press level. He was summoned to the locker room to dress between the second and third periods because Khabibulin was forced to leave that game due to injury. Crawford dressed and sat on the bench for the final 20 minutes, a familiar scenario for him.

He was on the active roster between Nov. 28 and Dec. 8 but never made an appearance. This season Crawford went 22-20-3 for the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League.

Huet returned to play the third period Sunday.