• HOME
  • NHL Teams
    • Atlantic Division
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Metropolitan Division
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Central Division
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Pacific Division
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle NHL
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • NHL Rumors
  • NHL Prospects
  • World Juniors
  • THW Archives
  • More…
    • Columns
    • NWHL
    • Women’s Hockey
    • Other Leagues
    • Long Read
    • NHL Entry Draft
    • Books
    • NHL History
  • Log in
The Hockey Writers
  • Site Index
  • NHL Salary Caps
  • Hockey 101: A Beginner’s Guide
  • Join Our Team
  • Free Newsletter
  • Store
  • Log in
The Hockey Writers
  • HOME
  • NHL Teams
    • Atlantic Division
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Metropolitan Division
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Central Division
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Pacific Division
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle NHL
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • NHL Rumors
  • NHL Prospects
  • World Juniors
  • THW Archives
  • More…
    • Columns
    • NWHL
    • Women’s Hockey
    • Other Leagues
    • Long Read
    • NHL Entry Draft
    • Books
    • NHL History
Home
Chicago Blackhawks

Blackhawks’ Crawford More Focused, Stronger In Net

By Kate Cimini October 21st, 2014

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp

The Chicago-Nashville game Saturday might have crowned Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews the star of the evening with his beauty of a goal with 1:34 left in overtime, but Corey Crawford’s performance over three periods plus overtime was sadly overlooked.

While Crawford’s goaltending is generally above average, posting a .926 and .917 over the last two seasons respectively. Bloggers have made noise about his chances at the Vezina over the past two seasons, but his freshman season in the NHL has so far been his best. Although we are only in the early days of the season, if Crawford maintains this level of performance over the season he may make a real run for the Vezina this year.

Friday night, Crawford faced down 18 shots and blocked 17, earning him a save percentage of .944. While that’s excellent for Crawford, it’s good for any goalie. Last year’s Vezina winner, Tuukka Rask, posted a save percentage of .930 over 58 games.

Of those 18 shots, 11 came in the third period, where Crawford played his best hockey. He faced down shot after shot — a particularly nice four-minute sequence contained a gorgeous chance by Nashville’s Shea Weber — and Crow’s time in goal has been truly impressive

 

The road trip ended with a 5-1 defeat in Chicago to the Blackhawks. (Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports)

The road trip ended with a 5-1 defeat in Chicago to the Blackhawks. (Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports)

He finished his first game of the season with 32 saves against the Dallas Stars, earning a .941 save percentage. It was an incredibly close game and Crawford made the difference for the ‘Hawks with the Stars turning the dial up to eleven and playing a fast and skilled (while still physical — Jamie Benn hasn’t given up his love of hitting) game. Crawford was on fire, facing down eight shots in the first period alone. His next two games Crawford posted save percentages of .913 and a dismal .889, but he rebounded for Saturday’s game against the Predators.

Crawford’s good games this season are really, really good, likely due to his backing away from some of the gymnastics we saw last season. Even if they were sometimes effective, they were also sometimes the reason why the other team would catch the rebound neatly on their tape, giving them a great chance at a second shot while Crawford scrambled back into position. While he is a tremendous athlete, when Crawford settles in and focuses on clean, efficient movements, he blows the other goalies out of the water.

Corey Crawford is a good goalie, and has proven himself to be a good goalie who is sometimes really good. As a player who sits behind an often-excellent defense, Crawford is not always challenged to be great, and his flaws are frequently covered by the two men in front of him.

But these few games at the start of this season have shown us that Crawford has the potential to be great. He has kept his cool and settled himself, sometimes blocking four shots over the course of four minutes (one of them a Shea Weber slapshot), as we saw against Nashville on Saturday. I, for one, am excited to see what he will do with this powerful start.

  • Tags
  • Corey Crawford
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp

Facebook Comments

Editor’s Picks
4 NHL Backup Goalies Who Should Be Starters

4 NHL Backup Goalies Who Should Be Starters

10736
7 Biggest NHL Players in Today's Game

7 Biggest NHL Players in Today's Game

64865
Recent Posts
Dec 15th 1:15 AM
Arizona Coyotes

Palmieri, Devils Beat Coyotes 2-1 to End 7-Game Skid

Dec 15th 1:05 AM
Chicago Blackhawks

Faulk Caps 4-Goal Rally; Blues Beat Blackhawks 4-3

Dec 15th 12:55 AM
Boston Bruins

Pastrnak Scores 2 Goals, Bruins Snap Winless Streak

Dec 15th 12:45 AM
Edmonton Oilers

Andersen’s 36-Save Performance Helps Power Maple Leafs past Oilers 4-1

Dec 15th 12:35 AM
Detroit Red Wings

Bernier Makes 42 Saves, Red Wings down Canadiens

Dec 15th 12:25 AM
Tampa Bay Lightning

Eller, Hathaway, Capitals Beat Lightning 5-2

Dec 15th 12:15 AM
Minnesota Wild

Staal Nets Pair, Wild Stay Hot at Home by Beating Flyers 4-1

Dec 14th 9:55 PM
Dallas Stars

Khudobin Helps Stars Beat Predators for 4th Win in 5 Games

Dec 14th 7:45 PM
Column

The Wild’s Week: Kicking off the Weekend Right

Dec 14th 7:00 PM
Anaheim Ducks

Ducks Beat Rangers in Shootout After Lindholm Ties It Late

Stay in Touch
Contact Us

Via our Newsletters
RSS Feeds

Privacy Statement

Our Partners
HFBoards

About THW…

Founded in 2009, The Hockey Writers is a premier destination for news and information on everything hockey. Updated daily with news and features from over 130 writers worldwide. Over 2 million monthly readers now come to THW for their hockey fix.

Join over 18 000 Subscribers of our free bi-weekly Newsletter.

© The Hockey Writers 2018. All rights reserved.
logo
  • HOME
  • Hockey Headlines
  • NHL Rumors
  • Atlantic Division
    • Boston Bruins
    • Buffalo Sabres
    • Detroit Red Wings
    • Florida Panthers
    • Montreal Canadiens
    • Ottawa Senators
    • Tampa Bay Lightning
    • Toronto Maple Leafs
  • Metropolitan Division
    • Carolina Hurricanes
    • Columbus Blue Jackets
    • New Jersey Devils
    • New York Islanders
    • New York Rangers
    • Philadelphia Flyers
    • Pittsburgh Penguins
    • Washington Capitals
  • Central Division
    • Chicago Blackhawks
    • Colorado Avalanche
    • Dallas Stars
    • Minnesota Wild
    • Nashville Predators
    • St Louis Blues
    • Winnipeg Jets
  • Pacific Division
    • Anaheim Ducks
    • Arizona Coyotes
    • Calgary Flames
    • Edmonton Oilers
    • Los Angeles Kings
    • San Jose Sharks
    • Seattle NHL
    • Vegas Golden Knights
    • Vancouver Canucks
  • Store
  • The THW Archives
  • Prospects
  • World Juniors
  • The Goalie Page
  • NHL Salary Cap Information
  • Join Our Team
  • Search THW