Keith, Darling heroes for Hawks as they top Preds 4-3 in double OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — So what does Joel Quenneville do now?

Corey Crawford or Scott Darling?

That's the prime question the Hawks' coach and his staff will try to figure out after Darling replaced Crawford in net and stopped all 42 shots he faced during the Hawks' 4-3 Game 1 win over the Predators in double overtime Wednesday.

When first asked about who would start in net for Friday's Game 2, Quenneville said: “The decision will be easy. We'll talk about it today and tomorrow.”

When pressed a minute later, though, the coach just said: “We'll tell you tomorrow.”

Whatever they do, the Hawks were just thrilled to take a 1-0 series lead after falling behind 3-0 in the first period. Although they weren't totally his fault, Crawford allowed all of those goals on 12 shots.

Then Darling entered and faced just 4 second-period shots as the Hawks stormed back behind goals from Niklas Hjalmarsson, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews. Duncan Keith scored the game winner 7:49 into the second overtime.

The best of Darling's many impressive saves came with 9:16 remaining in regulation on a point-blank shot by Ryan Ellis. Darling, all 6-feet-6 and 232 pounds of him, slid over and used his right pad to turn away the wicked one-timer.

“That save on that power play … that's a difference-maker,” Keith said. “Those are the type of saves you need to win hockey games. We dodged a bullet there.”

The Lemont native said he was anticipating the pass from Colin Wilson to Ellis and gave a ton of credit to goalie coach Jimmy Waite for his pre-scouting.

“The coaches gave me a head's up on that play before the game and I was able to get a read on it,” Darling said.

Darling did admit to being shocked when the coaches called his number after the first period.

“I was nervous and excited all at the same time,” he said. “It's a pretty amazing opportunity. I just wanted to do good for the team, I just wanted to do my job.”

It was the worst start imaginable for the Blackhawks as Nashville stormed to a 3-0 lead with Quenneville's team looking rusty, discombobulated, confused and nothing like a team capable of making a deep run in the postseason.

But then a funny thing happened in the second period.

Darling took over and the Hawks erupted for 3 goals in just over 14 minutes to tie things up. Darling made save after save after save and Keith sent a deflated and shocked Bridgestone Arena crowd home depressed.

The Predators must have thought they were re-living a bad dream as it was the second straight time the Hawks fell behind to Nashville 3-0 and managed to prevail.

“Obviously wasn't the start we wanted but showed a lot of character to battle back,” Keith said.

At the end of Quenneville's press conference, the subject once again turned to Darling, who was 9-4 this season with a .936 save percentage. He certainly owns Nashville, too, having stopped 74 of the Predators 75 shots in the two times he's faced them.

“It was a great opportunity for him and he seized the moment,” Quenneville said. “You look back at what he's done for us over the course of the season – every time we put him in the net, the team hasn't changed their approach.

“But today in a playoff game of this magnitude in that situation, I thought it was one of the greatest performances you're going to see.”

Follow John on Twitter @johndietzdh