Crawford Picking Up The Pace

Corey Crawford struggled a bit in Game 1 versus Minnesota.  But he looked very sharp in game two.  Chicago takes a 2-0 lead into Minnesota.  And Crawford will need to be at his best.

Although he has looked better, I’m not sure he is up to the challenge for the next game.  He certainly will not end up with the W if he lets in any more soft goals.

Second City Nation had this to say:

There may have been a point somewhere against the Nashville Predators where we all wondered when we might see Corey Crawford between the pipes again for the Chicago Blackhawks in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. With Scott Darling serving as the goaltender in relief, and doing an outstanding job, Joel Quenneville passed over the ideal opportunity to start him in Game 6 in order to continue to roll with the Lemont native.

Yet, as fate would have it, Crawford worked his way back into the net after a slow start by the Blackhawks that resulted in a 3-1 deficit. What transpired afterward is well known, as Crawford stopped all 13 shots he faced for the remainder of the night, allowing the Blackhawks to work back to a 4-3 lead in the game, and the overall series victory.

Against the Minnesota Wild, Crawford has shown exactly why he should have always been the guy. He showed it in a key third period in Game 1, and came back with an even better performance in Game 2, both wins for the home team.

The Blackhawks worked their way up to a 3-0 lead in the opening game of the series against the Wild. Perhaps far too predictably, they took the foot off the gas and allowed the Wild to creep back into it. With the blue line opening the slot for Wild players to score at close range, Crawford paid the price in allowing the Wild to even things up at three. But when the Hawks needed him to come up big in the third period, having grabbed a lead at the end of the second, he did just that.

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Photo courtesy of Cheryl Adams.