Corey Crawford flips the switch for Blackhawks but they can't keep it on
With 8 minutes, 6 seconds left in the second period of Game 4 Tuesday night at the United Center, the Blackhawks finally found that proverbial switch.
It had been sitting in the off position for too long, for too many lifeless shifts and scoreless periods against the Blues. At last, goalie Corey Crawford flipped it on in a fit of rage that appeared to signal the real start of the playoffs for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"I don't remember too much,'' Crawford said. "I got hit in the head. I was pretty pissed about that.''
Turns out this Blues team, unlike so many of its predecessors, showed in a 4-3 victory that it can take a hit.
"I haven't seen that in a long time,'' Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said.
Seeing Crawford leave the crease to start swinging at Blues center Robby Fabbri in the corner triggered something visceral within a Hawks team waiting for something to raise their play. Cue Crawford, who after making consecutive stops followed Fabbri to the boards where the pummeling began. For old-time Hawks fans, it might have conjured up memories of Ed Belfour. It wasn't necessarily an intelligent move by Crawford but it was effective almost immediately.
"Crow's a competitor,'' Duncan Keith said.
Exactly 75 seconds after Crawford attacked Fabbri, which elicited chants of "Corey!" from the crowd of 22,212, Keith gave the revived Hawks a 2-1 lead.
It says everything about the resilience of these Blues that they not only tied the game 2-2 with 2:29 left in the second period when Vladimir Tarasenko beat Crawford from the right circle, but took a 3-2 lead just 1:36 into the third on a Jaden Schwartz power-play goal. That marked the moment the Blues regained control of the game — roughly 10 minutes after the Hawks lost their composure.
The shaky Hawks arrived Tuesday at 1901 W. Madison St. uncertain if it would be their last home game and that anxiety hung uncomfortably in the air as they left the ice. Their frustration was obvious too, with Andrew Shaw punctuating his dumb penalty with 2:04 left by unnecessarily tangling with Blues players after the final buzzer. Shaw's stellar play in this series doesn't excuse his immature outburst.
The desperation in the building was palpable at the 7:31 mark of the first when Hawks center Artem Anisimov nearly rammed a goal past goalie Brian Elliott, but a replay review showed the puck sitting on the goal line. The NHL isn't the NFL; the puck needs to do more than just cross the plane. If a mistake was made, it came when referee Chris Rooney blew the play dead — not in ruling Anisimov's shot wasn't a goal.
"False!" WGN-AM 720 analyst Troy Murray shouted.
The hard truth? The Blues finished their checks hard (just ask Keith). They received great goaltending, again, and they rode the hot stick of Tarasenko. The Hawks have recovered from 3-1 series deficits before but this Blues team looks too deep and talented and mentally tough.
Look at the game's first goal as an example; the Blues outhustled the Hawks when center Jori Lehtera beat Brent Seabrook to the puck and fed Tarasenko, who fired a laser past Crawford. Out of habit, many Hawks fans probably ripped veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival.
The convenient scapegoat wears No. 32, turns 38 next September and occasionally skates like a guy collecting a pension. Not that Rozsival is old but, in his 1999 NHL debut for the Penguins against the Stars, he skated against center Guy Carbonneau, who is two years younger than Hawks coach Joel Quenneville.
It was ol' man Rozsival, of course, who made the bad pass Blues center Patrik Berglund converted into a tying goal in Game 3. And it was Rozsival who likely disappointed many when he returned to the Game 4 lineup.
Quenneville aroused curiosity at the morning skate when he revealed he told defenseman David Rundblad "to be ready.'' Rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson instead got the nod, supplanting Viktor Svedberg from a jumbled lineup.
Quenneville's tinkering reflected the Hawks' urgency, but realize that the Hawks didn't face a must-win game because of the shortcomings of role players such as Rozsival as much as the failure of the team's biggest stars to overcome them. The limited scoring of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa — all of whom have yet to score a goal in the series — posed a more pressing problem.
The Hawks' playmakers haven't challenged the Blues goalie enough. They tend to get too cute at home, making an extra fancy pass instead of shooting the puck at the net. Perhaps Game 5 in St. Louis they will remember to play simpler hockey. Maybe it's too late.
Fluke bounces and individual breakdowns change games when great players don't. The Hawks have more great players than the Blues. More than anything, the Hawks needed make that obvious in Game 4 but didn't. Hossa nearly broke through when his rocket ricocheted off Shaw and past Elliott at 9:12 of the second for the Hawks' first goal. But the back of the net remained elusive for the guys paid handsomely to find it.
"Sometimes it just comes down to finding a way,'' Keith said.
The Hawks' search for goals — and answers — continues
It had been sitting in the off position for too long, for too many lifeless shifts and scoreless periods against the Blues. At last, goalie Corey Crawford flipped it on in a fit of rage that appeared to signal the real start of the playoffs for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"I don't remember too much,'' Crawford said. "I got hit in the head. I was pretty pissed about that.''
Turns out this Blues team, unlike so many of its predecessors, showed in a 4-3 victory that it can take a hit.
"I haven't seen that in a long time,'' Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said.
Seeing Crawford leave the crease to start swinging at Blues center Robby Fabbri in the corner triggered something visceral within a Hawks team waiting for something to raise their play. Cue Crawford, who after making consecutive stops followed Fabbri to the boards where the pummeling began. For old-time Hawks fans, it might have conjured up memories of Ed Belfour. It wasn't necessarily an intelligent move by Crawford but it was effective almost immediately.
"Crow's a competitor,'' Duncan Keith said.
Exactly 75 seconds after Crawford attacked Fabbri, which elicited chants of "Corey!" from the crowd of 22,212, Keith gave the revived Hawks a 2-1 lead.
It says everything about the resilience of these Blues that they not only tied the game 2-2 with 2:29 left in the second period when Vladimir Tarasenko beat Crawford from the right circle, but took a 3-2 lead just 1:36 into the third on a Jaden Schwartz power-play goal. That marked the moment the Blues regained control of the game — roughly 10 minutes after the Hawks lost their composure.
The shaky Hawks arrived Tuesday at 1901 W. Madison St. uncertain if it would be their last home game and that anxiety hung uncomfortably in the air as they left the ice. Their frustration was obvious too, with Andrew Shaw punctuating his dumb penalty with 2:04 left by unnecessarily tangling with Blues players after the final buzzer. Shaw's stellar play in this series doesn't excuse his immature outburst.
The desperation in the building was palpable at the 7:31 mark of the first when Hawks center Artem Anisimov nearly rammed a goal past goalie Brian Elliott, but a replay review showed the puck sitting on the goal line. The NHL isn't the NFL; the puck needs to do more than just cross the plane. If a mistake was made, it came when referee Chris Rooney blew the play dead — not in ruling Anisimov's shot wasn't a goal.
"False!" WGN-AM 720 analyst Troy Murray shouted.
The hard truth? The Blues finished their checks hard (just ask Keith). They received great goaltending, again, and they rode the hot stick of Tarasenko. The Hawks have recovered from 3-1 series deficits before but this Blues team looks too deep and talented and mentally tough.
Look at the game's first goal as an example; the Blues outhustled the Hawks when center Jori Lehtera beat Brent Seabrook to the puck and fed Tarasenko, who fired a laser past Crawford. Out of habit, many Hawks fans probably ripped veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival.
The convenient scapegoat wears No. 32, turns 38 next September and occasionally skates like a guy collecting a pension. Not that Rozsival is old but, in his 1999 NHL debut for the Penguins against the Stars, he skated against center Guy Carbonneau, who is two years younger than Hawks coach Joel Quenneville.
It was ol' man Rozsival, of course, who made the bad pass Blues center Patrik Berglund converted into a tying goal in Game 3. And it was Rozsival who likely disappointed many when he returned to the Game 4 lineup.
Quenneville aroused curiosity at the morning skate when he revealed he told defenseman David Rundblad "to be ready.'' Rookie defenseman Erik Gustafsson instead got the nod, supplanting Viktor Svedberg from a jumbled lineup.
Quenneville's tinkering reflected the Hawks' urgency, but realize that the Hawks didn't face a must-win game because of the shortcomings of role players such as Rozsival as much as the failure of the team's biggest stars to overcome them. The limited scoring of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa — all of whom have yet to score a goal in the series — posed a more pressing problem.
The Hawks' playmakers haven't challenged the Blues goalie enough. They tend to get too cute at home, making an extra fancy pass instead of shooting the puck at the net. Perhaps Game 5 in St. Louis they will remember to play simpler hockey. Maybe it's too late.
Fluke bounces and individual breakdowns change games when great players don't. The Hawks have more great players than the Blues. More than anything, the Hawks needed make that obvious in Game 4 but didn't. Hossa nearly broke through when his rocket ricocheted off Shaw and past Elliott at 9:12 of the second for the Hawks' first goal. But the back of the net remained elusive for the guys paid handsomely to find it.
"Sometimes it just comes down to finding a way,'' Keith said.