How Corey Crawford Compares Favorably with Habs Star Keeper Carey Price

There was trouble brewing for the Montreal Canadiens. The visiting Chicago Blackhawks were coming into the Bell Center with a full head of angry steam.

The Blackhawks had lost three of their last four games and had been shut out in two of those games. This is a team that has undeniable talent and can fill up the net on any given night. The fact that it had gone into a real goal-scoring slump had not shaken any of the team's confidence—it had just made the Hawks more determined.

It showed from start to finish at the Bell Center Tuesday night. Instead of eking out a one-goal decision over one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, the Blackhawks dominated for 60 minutes and came away with a 5-0 victory. 

Corey Crawford, in his third game back following an upper-body injury, stopped 28 Montreal shots and disheartened the Canadiens on every one of their strong scoring opportunities. At the other end of the ice, the Canadiens left Carey Price out to dry throughout the night, and if he had not performed well, the Blackhawks could easily have scored three more goals in this game.

After the Blackhawks' previous game—a 1-0 home loss to Winnipeg in which the Jets scored in the first minute—there was a tension following the team as to when it would finally get on the board and get back to scoring again.

It was no surprise that Jonathan Toews broke the dry spell when the Chicago captain planted himself in front of the net and tipped in a Duncan Keith shot during a first-period power play. The Blackhawks were relieved to get the goal, and as the game progressed, there was a lot more free and easy skating than there had been in recent games.

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The Canadiens had some chances early on, but Crawford was not about to give them anything. In addition to making notable saves on Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher, he was not giving up any rebounds on any of those shots to the Canadiens. That's how Montreal normally scores its goals because their forwards are so quick, but Crawford wouldn't allow the Habs to use that attribute to put anything past him.

"I'm really happy for Corey," head coach Joel Quenneville said after the game on Comcast SportsNet. "He did some really good work in the first period and then in the final minute to preserve the shutout. ... Our goaltending through 13 games has been great."

Crawford is off to a brilliant start this season. It started in the season opener when he played a sharp and alert game at Dallas against sharpshooters Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, and it has continued since then. Instead of giving up an ugly goal nearly every game, as he did last year, Crawford is giving up next to nothing.

His record improved to 4-2-1 with the victory, and he has a shocking 1.53 goals-against average and a razor-sharp .938 save percentage. It was his first shutout of the year and the 11th of his career.

Crawford has had the support of his teammates throughout the season, as they have played consistent team defense. That's something that Price cannot say about his end of the ice.

The Habs have now given up 11 goals in their last two home games. The defense was poor in Saturday night's loss to the improving Calgary Flames, and it was worse against the Blackhawks. However, there are times when a goaltender has to pick it up for his teammates when they aren't playing their game.

While it's doubtful that heroics from Price could have helped the Habs win either game, he possibly could have kept them in it. Price seemed to lose his net on a couple of occasions against the Blackhawks. The netminder gave up five goals on 32 shots, and that .844 save percentage is not going to allow his team to stay close in many games.

For the season, Price has a 7-3-1 record, a 2.94 GAA and .907 save percentage. Last year, Price was consistent all year (2.32 GAA and .927 save percentage) and was at his best in the Winter Olympics, when he led Canada to the gold medal, and in the second round of the playoffs, when the Canadiens upset the Boston Bruins in seven games. While he hasn't had the kind of defensive support he expects, Price has not played as well as he did last year.

The Blackhawks took advantage of a rare goal explosion to punish an Original Six rival in their own building. But even when the Blackhawks are not scoring goals, they know they are getting the goaltending to have an excellent chance to win most nights.

Crawford may not be quite the goaltender that Price is based on their overall reputations, but Crawford has been the better goalie through the early part of the season, and he demonstrated that clearly Tuesday night.

The only bad news for the Blackhawks came after Patrick Sharp suffered a collision in the latter half of the third period. Quenneville said that the high-scoring right winger will miss time as a result of the lower-body injury.

"

Q said Sharp will probably be out "a bit." That ended up being weeks for Versteeg & Carcillo when he said the same thing. #Blackhawks

— Tracey Myers (@TramyersCSN) November 5, 2014"

If the injury does not have a long-term impact and Sharp can return in two to three weeks, this game could be remembered as one that spurs the Blackhawks to a long, successful run in the 2014-15 season.