Why Corey Crawford Should Not Be Blamed for Every Blackhawks Loss

The word "every" in this piece's headline must be taken loosely. Corey Crawford does not take the full blame for every Chicago Blackhawks loss.

In fact, Patrick Sharp did the admirable thing and personally accepted responsibility for Saturday's 4-3 Game 2 Stanley Cup Final loss to Tampa Bay after taking two third-period penalties, one of which led to Jason Garrison's winning goal.

That didn't prevent the usual amount of Crawford-bashing during and after Chicago's loss, however. NBC analyst Mike Milbury said Crawford was going "straight to hell" for allowing this Tyler Johnson goal in the second period because it was a "condemnable goal":

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VIDEO: Mike Milbury saying Corey Crawford is going straight to hell for letting up a goal. http://t.co/9NzgGq23Hw

— MarcusD (@_MarcusD_) June 7, 2015"

Mad Mike meant this tongue-in-cheek (right?), and Crawford has received plenty of praise from him and others for helping get the Blackhawks this far. The Chicago goalie also hasn't been flawless in these playoffs, and he's rightfully received criticism for his subpar performances. 

Slamming Crawford has become too much of a Pavlovian response, however. Whenever Chicago loses, too many fans and pundits seem to instantly become experts on the position of goaltender and diagnose his play as the main problem.

Daily Herald columnist Mike Imrem wrote the Game 2 loss "raised the same old questions" about Crawford:

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Is Crawford a special goaltender or just good? Is he a goalie you can win because of or merely one you can win with? Seriously, who and what is this guy anyway? 

Crawford often is compared to Chris Osgood, who won two Stanley Cups as a starter and another as a backup with the Red Wings. Osgood won those championships and more than 400 games, yet is considered by many to be a function of Detroit's system rather than a Hall of Fame goalie.

The questions about Crawford are similar to the ones asked about Osgood and about many NFL quarterbacks: Do they make the team or does the team make them?

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It's doubtful anyone made the case that Crawford is or ever would be a "special" goalie. After the Blackhawks selected him with the No. 52 overall pick in the 2003 NHL draft, Hockey's Future billed him as a likely solid pro. He's been just that with some special moments thrown in, including a 16-7 record, 1.84 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in Chicago's Cup run in 2013. 

Of course, Crawford has benefited from having great players in front of him. So did Ken Dryden in Montreal, Billy Smith with the Islanders, Grant Fuhr in Edmonton and Osgood in Detroit.

On paper, it seems as though Crawford has struggled once every few games. Saturday was one of them, his critics said. But was he really that bad, and was the loss more his fault than anybody else's? No.

Take a look at Tampa Bay's first goal in Game 2 (above). The goal, which Cedric Paquette scored, came after Ryan Callahan beat supposed speed merchant Kyle Cumiskey to a puck to prevent an icing violation. Cumiskey then kicked the puck out in front of the net to Tampa Bay's J.T. Brown, but Crawford successfully stopped his point-blank shot.

Crawford bailed his team out there, but seconds later, he had to do it again. The Blackhawks failed to clear out a loose puck in front, which came to Paquette, who then completely faked out Brandon Saad on the way to scoring to the far post.

Tampa Bay's second goal, which tied it 2-2, came after Nikita Kucherov got in behind Niklas Hjalmarsson and made a great tip with his stick. This came not long after Chicago's Duncan Keith made a blind turnover back to the point to keep a Lightning offensive-zone sequence going. On Garrison's winning goal, the stick of Chicago's Andrew Desjardins redirected his shot. Redirects on a slap shot are the hardest pucks for any goalie to stop.

The third goal, by Johnson? OK, that's one Crawford would want to have back. But was it all his fault, a "condemnable" goal? No.

Take a look at that goal too, and you'll see that Chicago defender Johnny Oduya was outworked twice right before the goal, once to a loose puck by Kucherov and then from out of the corner by Johnson. If Oduya does more than just reach for the puck in those sequences, Johnson never has a chance to get a shot off.

Yet, Crawford publicly accepted the blame for the Johnson goal, telling Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times, "I've got to be able to read that and not give up a goal on the side."

Despite the on-ice failures of some of his teammates, it was up to Crawford to sit and take the media heat, which he did with honor.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville seemed to be one of the goaltender's unfair critics after Game 2 as well. Asked how he thought Crawford played, Quenneville told reporters, "Just OK." 

Quenneville would not have one of his two Stanley Cup rings as a head coach if not for Crawford. He would not be back in these Finals for a chance at a third without Crawford. Between Game 2 and his being pulled as the No. 1 goalie in favor of Scott Darling early in the first round against Nashville, Crawford compiled a 10-3 record with a 2.05 GAA and .933 save percentage, as Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times noted.

Though his overall playoff GAA of 2.56 is quite a bit higher than Ben Bishop's 2.20 or Henrik Lundqvist's 2.11, it's time to stop blaming Crawford whenever the Blackhawks lose a game. He deserves a huge hand, not hand-wringing, from Chicago fans before the start of Game 3 at the United Center Monday night.