Boy it feels good to beat an evil team, doesn't it?
The Blackhawks have now rolled off 4-straight coming out of their 9-game slump, yet no win was as big as this last one.
In a previous post I wrote about how important it was that the Hawks' starts stepped up in big moments, but this game was just the opposite.
With team captain Jonathan Toews out with the mysterious "upper-body" injury, everyone knew coming in that this would be a struggle. The young guys though performed their roles admirably though and the Hawks pulled it out. Rookie winger Jimmy Hayes tied the game in the 2nd period on a rebound. He later added an assist on Kruger's early 3rd period goal.
Most importantly though, Corey Crawford only let up 1 goal despite seeing over 30 shots. The Blackhawks still have yet to record a shutout this season, but if Crawford is able to consistently play as well as he has on this winning streak then it might not matter. His performance is key. The team steps up when he does, and wilts when he doesn't. As long as he's stopping shots and the defense is playing, well, defense, then this team will be much scarier come playoff time.
These Hawks are inconsistent. The same team let up 18 goals in two games in Edmonton this year and went on a 9-game skid, and now haven't given up more than 1 in any of the last 3.
Whatever Q is doing now is working. The question is, how long before the team tunes him out again and he needs to switch everything up?
There's that Chicago pessimism I was missing... :-)
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