Rozner: Crawford extraordinary as Blackhawks stay alive

There are at least a few Blackhawks who have been here before.

In 2011, the Hawks were down 3-0 in the first round to Vancouver, also the top seed in the West, and yet they somehow won the next three games, including blowouts in Games 4 and 5, and an overtime victory in Game 6 at home, before losing in overtime of Game 7 in Vancouver.

But on that team, as defending Stanley Cup champs, they had Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson, to go along with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith.

They also had a rookie goaltender named Corey Crawford who took the net away from veteran Marty Turco during the season and established himself as an NHL starter. But it was that series against the Canucks that saw Crawford emerge as the certain future in goal for the Hawks.

Crawford was spectacular, the main reason the Hawks were able to climb back in it, while Vancouver's Roberto Luongo struggled from start to finish, a pattern that would continue all the way through the playoffs before the Canucks ultimately lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to Boston.

And now here we are with Crawford nearing the end of his career and soon to be a free agent, he's once again trying to prove to the Hawks that he deserves another chance.

Crawford, who has given up nearly a soft goal a game since returning from COVID-19, was incredible Sunday night as the Hawks stayed alive in the postseason with a 3-1 victory over Vegas.

He stopped 19 of 20 shots in the first period and 46 of 47 for the game as the Vegas pressure was relentless. The third period was essentially a power play for the Knights as they kept the Hawks pinned in their own end, and it was only Crawford who kept the Hawks from being eliminated.

"He stood on his head and he's the biggest reason we won this game," said winger Drake Caggiula. "Made a ton of big saves. He put the team on his back today. He made the saves we needed him to make and allowed us to fight another day."

Crawford, however, would not take credit for the victory.

"I think we played great defensively. I don't remember one chance they had from the inside," Crawford said with a straight face. "And our guys were clearing rebounds all night."

The Hawks blocked 32 shots and the Knights missed the net 15 times, meaning they attempted 94 shots to only 45 for the Hawks, who had 25 shots on former teammate Robin Lehner.

The Hawks jumped on Lehner early in the first when Olli Maatta was deep in the Vegas zone and from the corner found Caggiula alone in front for a 1-0 Hawks lead.

Lehner, doing his best Luongo impression, let up a terrible goal midway through the period when Matthew Highmore threw a puck at the net from below the goal line, which hit Lehner in the back of the head and went in to make it 2-0.

Vegas got one back 18 seconds later as Shea Theodore fired a shot from the point through traffic and beat Crawford high stick side, but it stayed that way throughout, and it was Lehner's bad goal that was the difference, the snakebit Alex DeBrincat finally putting one into an empty net in the final seconds.

Credit coach Jeremy Colliton with having DeBrincat on the ice in that final minute, hoping for just such a goal that might get DeBrincat going.

The Hawks talked about playing them one game at a time after going down 3-0 in the series, just as they did in 2011, but it's really one shift at a time.

Just as in 2011, when the Hawks barely sneaked into the playoffs, the team has tried to take advantage of this opportunity, and they certainly did in upsetting Edmonton in the play-in series.

Facing a far superior Canucks team in 2011, the Hawks went down 3-0, outscored by only 4 goals the first three games, before pounding the Canucks to the tune of 16-5 over the next three as they forced a Game 7.

In the process, they put Vancouver's $10 million goalie on the bench three times while playing with half an AHL roster and a core of veterans who weren't ready to go home.

Mostly, it was Crawford standing on his head game after game, including in Game 7 when a late, short-handed goal by Toews forced an extra period. The Hawks nearly won it early when Toews found Sharp in front, but he was in too close to beat Luongo.

Not long after, Crawford had no chance on the game-winner when Alex Burrows took advantage of a Chris Campoli turnover, walked down the slot and fired a rolling puck just past the outstretched blocker of Crawford.

That Hawks team had too many borderline NHL players to think they could win that series, while this Hawks team is the youngest among NHL postseason clubs.

At least that series in 2011 became an entertaining one, and the Hawks now have a chance to extend the Knights and force them to play extra games when all they're thinking about is getting some rest and the next series.

You saw what happened to Vancouver when they failed to get it done quickly and their goaltender was bad. An easy series became a nightmare.

One would think Vegas won't allow that to happen, and a switch to Marc-Andre Fleury seems inevitable for Game 5 Tuesday night.

In the meantime, it's one shift at a time for the Hawks. You can't win four games before you win the first one.

The Hawks did that Sunday night - thanks entirely to Corey Crawford.