Before the Blackhawks' latest win streak (6 games, and 9-1 in their last ten games), they won a fair amount of games by coming back to tie late and/or off an Artemi Panarin one-timer.
They did both last night, and it was just enough to beat the Islanders. Part of that early season mojo was stellar goaltending and they got that too, from Corey Crawford, who had not seen the net for over a week. Crawford was backed up last night by journeyman Jeff Glass.
I heard a rumor last night that Scott Darling' upper body injury is a broken finger—he'll be out an estimated three weeks.
I had a conversation with a fellow blogger (Gatekeeper from PuckinHostile) last night, in which we discussed the fact that Crawford and Glass are the only two Hawk goalkeepers under contract for next year. While this might point to Darling being allowed to leave via free agency, I heard again last week that the Hawks intend to extend Darling.
That's going to be no small feat in terms of logistics, or money, depending on other moves the Hawks might make. But the fact is, for all his doubters, Darling continues to play like a #1 netminder, if not a very good one.
Another bit of good news for the Hawks: Marcus Kruger finished the game after taking a point shot off his hand. Kruger has also been taking faceoffs the last couple of games and was 50% last night. This also is good news, as it appeared Kruger had made a somewhat permanent move out to wing at one point not too long ago, due to a lingering wrist injury.
And even in the absence of Niklas Hjalmarsson and the newly acquired Johnny Oduya, the Hawk defense continues to play well.
All good signs as the playoffs draw near and in the midst of a back to back played likely without both Artem Anisimov and Nick Schmaltz.
So that leads to tonight's game in Nashville:
Chicago Blackhawks (41-18-5) at Nashville Predators (32-23-9) 7PM Central FS-TN/CSN-CH
GOALIES: Corey Crawford/Chicago Pekka Rinne/Nashvile
Per nhl.com, Anisimov may play tonight.
I'll recap tomorrow.
JJ