Tal Pinchevsky 9y

Blackhawks stick up for Darling after tough loss to Islanders

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Immediately following a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders in which the Chicago Blackhawks led midway through the third period, goaltender Scott Darling was clearly his own toughest critic. But after being outshot 41-25 and outhit 42-29 on Saturday night, Darling's teammates weren't having it.

Despite Darling's insistence that he cost his team a back-and-forth affair that could have extended its winning streak to nine games, the Blackhawks acknowledged that their goaltender was the only reason they even had a shot to get two points on Long Island.

"Not a chance. Not a chance he should be beating himself up. He was unbelievable tonight," said forward Patrick Kane, whose highlight-reel goal 3 minutes, 46 seconds into the third period gave Chicago a short-lived 2-1 lead.

"He's been amazing ever since he got in the net. I think both of his losses, we didn't give him much help. The one against Anaheim [on Oct. 28] 1-0, and tonight he had over 40 shots. They pretty much took it to us. He can't play much better than that."

Darling made a career-high 38 stops against the Islanders, but there was little the rookie could do on New York's first two goals. The first was Cal Clutterbuck's breakaway following a Duncan Keith defensive turnover; the second was Kyle Okposo's power-play blast following a rebound off a quick John Tavares wrist shot that left Darling out of position. Lubomir Visnovsky's winner 51 seconds after Okposo tied it was an excellent individual effort, but one Darling clearly wished he had back.

"My mindset is always the same. Just trying to keep the puck out of the net," the 25-year-old said. "They have a lot of skill on their team, so do we. We exchanged chances. We had some breakdowns and I couldn't come through. That ended up being the difference in the game."

Darling's performance dropped his save percentage to a still-impressive .937 for the season. His goals-against average ballooned to a remarkable 1.97. Not bad for a journeyman goalie who spent his first four pro seasons playing for eight teams in four leagues, none within sniffing distance of the NHL.

But there was no silver lining in this loss. It's that kind of pride that has endeared Darling to his Chicago teammates in a span of just seven starts.

"He's competitive, he's critical of himself. But he played really well. He kept us in that game. We didn't give him too much help," captain Jonathan Toews said. "He made some huge stops throughout all three periods. If he wasn't there on those, we could have been in real trouble. Thanks to him, he kept it a close game and somehow gave us a chance to win."

Between Toews and Kane, that's two of the game's most iconic players rushing to the defense of a goalie who was playing in the East Coast Hockey League last year. That has to mean something on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. Still, with a home game Sunday against the Calgary Flames awaiting, Darling would rather have the two points.

"You want to win every game, but we're not going to be down about it," Darling said. "We're going to come back firing tomorrow night."

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