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          Chicago Blackhawks Report

          Hawks storylines (No. 2): Crawford in net

          • Scott Powers, ESPN Staff WriterSep 19, 2014, 10:00 AM ET
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              Scott Powers is the Blackhawks beat reporter for ESPNChicago.com. He is an award-winning journalist and has been reporting on preps, colleges and pros for publications throughout the Midwest since 1997.
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          ESPNChicago.com's Scott Powers counts down to Friday's opening of the Chicago Blackhawks' training camp with a look at 20 storylines facing the team this season.

          Corey Crawford was one of the primary reasons why the Chicago Blackhawks reached the Western Conference finals last season.

          He was extraordinary in net through the first two rounds of the playoffs. Without his 34-save shutout against the St. Louis Blues in Game 3 of their first-round series, the Blackhawks likely don’t advance to the second round. All told, Crawford stopped 351 of 377 shots for a .931 save percentage in the first two rounds.

          The seven games of the Western Conference finals weren’t as kind to Crawford. He allowed 26 goals and had a .878 save percentage against the Los Angeles Kings in the series.

          Crawford wasn’t to blame for all of the goals, but he took responsibility for the end result. If the Blackhawks are going to make another Stanley Cup run, they need him to be better.

          “It wasn't good enough,” the 29-year-old Crawford said after last season of his own play. "We lost. It was too many goals. Take away the Game 2, that was a blowout in the third period. That couldn't happen, but it did. They seemed to get a lot of traffic in front of the net. I felt pretty much all year I was pretty strong battling through traffic and finding pucks, and that was probably the worst part of my game in that series.”

          After an up-and-down 2013-14, Crawford will be aiming for more consistency this season. He struggled early in the season and had .907 save percentage through his first 27 games. He went down with an injury in December and was a different player when he returned in January, posting a .926 save percent over the final regular-season 32 games. He finished with a .917 save percentage, which put him 15th in the league among goalies with at least 40 games.

          Crawford is expected to shoulder a heavy starting load again this season. It would be beneficial both to him and the Blackhawks if Antti Raanta became more comfortable in the backup role. Raanta’s struggles as the No. 2 goalie late last season didn’t allow Crawford much rest -- a change from the previous season, in which the balance between Ray Emery and Crawford was key to Chicago's regular-season success.