Ryan Dittrick 9y

Hawks fall despite Corey Crawford's exceptional effort

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Chicago Blackhawks looked very much like a team on the second half of a back-to-back set Sunday night.

Disjointed, chaotic, on and on.

For everyone but Corey Crawford, that is.

Fortunate to be tied after 40 minutes of play, the well ran dry -- a sputtering offense failed to produce when, on the flip side, Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen was busy putting the finishing touches on his first career hat trick in a 4-1 final.

"We didn't have much of anything going tonight," Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville said. "Vancouver had way more pace, way more energy and puck support.

"We were lucky to be in the game."

Making his 11th straight start, Crawford was exceptional -- an elite performance from one of the NHL's best, preventing an otherwise lopsided game from getting out of hand.

"He was amazing. Absolutely amazing," Kris Versteeg, who scored the Hawks’ lone goal, said postgame. “Crow's been great all year, but he was something special tonight, no question. If it wasn't for him, we're probably looking at a different result on the scoreboard. He kept us in it and gave us a chance, which is all you can ever ask from your goaltender … but when we make the kind of saves he was making tonight, it's such a boost. It's a shame we didn't get the result for him tonight."

Among his 26 saves, Crawford’s best will make the highlight reels coast-to-coast for the days, weeks and months ahead -- sure goals thwarted by fine displays of athleticism.

Radim Vrbata, whose deflected shot from the high slot was emphatically picked off by the netminder's glove, was the first to bear witness. Then, in a tie game late in the second period, Crawford had a little magic left in tow, lunging across and extending every inch of his 6-foot-2 frame to negate Henrik Sedin's one-touch offering with the tip of his skate blade.

Crawford came into the night with a 1.90 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage -- elite numbers, indeed.

"He's been excellent. Consistent. Game in, game out, he's giving us a chance," Quenneville said. "We didn't give him the result he deserved."

The Blackhawks were outshot 30-25, but the discrepancy in quality scoring chances was far greater.

The Hawks got on the board at 7:55 of the second period, scoring just 12 seconds into a power-play opportunity.

"On back-to-back nights, you try to play a simple game,” Versteeg said of the team’s lack of execution. "We held ourselves in it for a while … They have some good players over there that can make some great plays, and that's exactly what they did. It was a pace we're generally comfortable with, but whether it was fatigue or something else at play, we couldn't keep up. Tied going into the third period, you've got to be happy with the position you're in. Then we gave up the first one, the next one. Before you know it, we're down by a bunch. We're better than that, and we'll show it.”

Added Hawks forward Patrick Kane: "We have a lot more to give. Tonight wasn't good enough."

Alongside Kane and Brad Richards, Versteeg now has three goals and seven points in his past four games. The winger was one of the Hawks' better forwards tonight, playing nearly 19 minutes and coming to the aid of Kane after No. 88 was drilled with a questionable hit from behind by Canucks defenseman Luca Sbisa late in the opening 20.

Beyond that, the emotion, and the myriad "wow" moments from their all-star netminder, the Blackhawks just couldn't get anything going offensively. The 50-foot neutral zone may as well have been a chasm, entrenched -- appropriately, along the shores of the Pacific Ocean here in Vancouver -- by a sea of blue sweaters.

"Even if we're not dictating the pace of the game, we've got to make sure we're making things more difficult on them to create offense," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "We made mistakes all over the place and it cost us. We've had a good trip, 'til tonight. It will be good to get some rest before we get back at it on Wednesday in Denver."

^ Back to Top ^