The hottest team in hockey has taken its act north of the border. The Blackhawks extended their winning streak to nine games last night in Montreal—and as the Hawks head to Toronto for tonight's tilt with the Leafs, the list of teams who can pose a real test to the Hawks seems to be narrowing.
Well, the Canadiens did pose a test.
They put 40 shots on Corey Crawford last night. But as he has all season, Crawford came up huge before a hometown crowd and shut the Habs down, with multiple series of brilliant saves in the second and third periods particularly. Crawford's counterpart, Habs backup Mike Condon, was also really strong—but Chicago mounted enough offense to squeak out a 2-1 win.
Thoughts:
Crawford is at the top of his game. Goaltending coach Jimmy Waite has the same window into Crawford's psyche and style that his brother Stephane did. And the result, working with a more mature, accomplished, confident Crawford is an elite NHL goaltender.
Fans in opposing arenas will chant "Craw-ford," but Crawford will just lock it down, do his job and win. And the eye test, not to mention the numbers, says this guy is a top, top NHL goalkeeper.
At this point, Vezina talk is probably ridiculous, because there are other goalies with better numbers, most notably the Capitals' Braden Holtby (another chronically unsung netminder). But the bottom line for hawk fans is, not only do they have a net minder who can get them to the Stanley Cup (and proven as such), they have a goaltender who can assume a huge workload and carry them through stretches of the regular season where they might not play their best game.
Speaking of which, shot totals can be a little misleading. It's not just the number of shots, but the location and quality of shots, that matter. That said, the Blackhawks are giving up a lot of shots—and Crawford is bailing them out a lot. It's not a condemnation at this point but something to keep an eye on.
Why?
Because regular season hockey is different than playoff hockey. No explanation is necessary. The style of play changes in large part because officiating and overtime changes. 5-on-5 hockey matters a lot more.
For the first time this season, the Blackhawks have finally pulled to even 76/76 in 5-on-5 goals for/against. This, after a 9-game win streak. The point is, this team will cool off again, and when it does, this numbers may fall into the negative again, raising some questions about this team's relative strengths and weaknesses.
Another, simpler way to look at this is, where would this team be right now without Corey Crawford and/or Patrick Kane?
The fact is, it doesn't matter in terms of the standings. And the standings today don't matter. they matter at the end of the regular season.
These two players have been there all year and have in many ways carried this team—Crawford as outlined above, Kane by driving arguably the league's (and certainly Chicago's) most productive line.
The bottom line here is, the stellar output of those two has bought the Hawks, Stan Bowman, and Joel Quenneville time. Time to tinker, evaluate, and make moves. And if you aren't yet convinced this team will waltz to a repeat Stanley Cup (which I'm not at this point, though definitely encouraged) then in addition to moves like the elevation of Erik Gustafsson and Philip Danault, there could be more to come.
I've heard specifically (and recently) that there are.
One last little tidbit; some intel out of Toronto on newly-acquired forward Richard Panik. Take it for what it's worth, but Panik allegedly played himself into Mike Babcock's doghouse due to what Babcock felt was only borderline hockey sense. The original source, a member of the Toronto organization integrally evolved in player evaluation, felt Panik is an NHL-quality player, but also added the caveat of how high his ceiling is (or isn't) according to one credible hockey mind at least.
I would look for Scott Darling tonight in net versus Toronto. Likely the same lines. No official word on Gustafsson who is day to day (lower body).
I'll recap tomorrow,
JJ