Chicago Blackhawks Stars Shining Brightly, but Goalkeeper Questions Still Loom

There were a couple of brief moments of uncertainty for Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford on Sunday in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

But if the game’s outcome was ever in doubt, that feeling didn’t linger very long. The Blackhawks stars made sure of that in a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild that bumped their lead to 2-0 in the series.

Patrick Kane scored twice, including an empty-netter that can also be considered pretty. Captain Jonathan Toews netted his fourth of the playoffs with a shorthanded marker. Former Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith set up one of the Kane goals, and Marian Hossa did the dirty work on the Toews shot that opened the scoring in the second period.

Patrick Sharp was the other Hawks sniper, with a perfectly placed shot over the pad and under the glove of Wild netminder Devan Dubnyk to restore a two-goal lead that relieved the pressure of a potential comeback six minutes after the Wild got on the board.

It was that power-play goal from Matt Dumba that gave fans at the United Center some pause.

They had been hesitantly and rather quietly chanting Crawford’s name throughout the night when he came through with a breakaway stop on Kyle Brodziak and another big one on a Zach Parise rebound from a Dumba blast.

But the memory of his poor play in the opening series when he was replaced by backup Scott Darling has them slow to commit confidence in Crawford.

When Dumba ripped a long shot off Crawford and into the net to make it 2-1 for the Hawks, you could almost hear the groans from the stands.

There was another scary series when Crawford took a Marco Scandella slapshot in the mask and had to send it off for repairs.

He made a couple of nice saves after having his bell rung, but you have to wonder why goaltenders don’t get checked out thoroughly after taking a frozen puck to the lid.

After the game, Crawford suggested he was fine. If his game doesn’t prove it, however, coach Joel Quenneville has shown in the past he’s not afraid to use his hook.

For most of the night, however, Crawford could be counted among those stars who rose to the occasion.

None more brightly than Kane and Toews, who have only scored on the same night in the playoffs on five occasions. It’s no coincidence the Blackhawks are a perfect 5-0 in those games.

And when players like Kane and Toews are at the top of their game, you might be able to throw a Shooter Tutor in net and still see a Blackhawks victory.

“I think they’ve been good consistently,” Quenneville said of his top guys in his postgame press conference as seen on the NHL Network. “Game in and game out, they’re our best players, leading the charge. They’re making their lines and their linemates better. That’s how you have success as a team, when your leaders and your best players lead the charge.”

Meanwhile, the Wild’s top players are in a tough spot.

Their best player since mid-January was Dubnyk, but without more support from guys like Parise, Thomas Vanek, Ryan Suter and Jason Pominville, the netminder won’t be able to lead a comeback in this series on his own.

Vanek finished the night a minus-four. Suter was a minus-three.

The Wild are hoping that a return to home ice at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul will make a difference.

"I'm sure they're feeling really good and I'm sure they feel like they're going to win the series," Wild coach Mike Yeo told Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press. "But I still feel like we're going to win the series. And I think our team does, too."

It did a year ago, when the Wild lost the first two games in Chicago in the second round before winning both at home.

Ultimately, they lost in six games by dropping the final pair, but they cling to the idea of evening the series this spring.

Kane remembers the events that unfolded last year. He expects the Wild to come out strong early.

“It’s a tough building to play in,” he said in a postgame interview on the CBC broadcast. “We’ve got to come out, try to weather the storm for the first 10 minutes or so and try to have a good push back. It’s a fun building to play in, but we know they’ll use it to their advantage. They’re good there at home.”

It won’t matter if Kane is able to control games the way he did Sunday night and Crawford is able to keep his head on straight.

The Blackhawks have proven they don't have to play perfect hockey every game. They're opportunistic and dangerous because their stars always seem able to rise to the occasion. That's why they've won the Stanley Cup in two of the the last five seasons, and why the Wild have been bounced by this very team the past two springs.

Steve Macfarlane has covered the NHL hockey for more than a decade, including seven seasons following the Calgary Flames for the Calgary Sun. Follow him on Twitter at @macfarlaneHKY