Friday, Dec. 10, 2010
Posted 6:44 PM
By Tracey Myers
CSNChicago.com
SAN JOSE, Calif.Corey Crawford isnt much for praising himself.
The 25-year-old goaltender has won seven consecutive decisions and is one more away from tying Denis DeJordy for the Chicago Blackhawks longest win streak for a rookie goaltender. Hes two away from tying Glenn Hall of longest winning run by any Blackhawks netminder.
Crawford will start again on Saturday night when the Blackhawks take on the San Jose Sharks, and a victory would tie him with DeJordy for rookie success. But after Fridays practice, Crawford was once again looking big picture.
Its pretty cool, but Im not thinking of me, he said. A lot of effort has gone in from everyone. Theres still a lot of work to be done, so we cant stop here.
Crawford started this season with a few struggles, getting out to a 1-4-0 mark in his first five games. Since then, however, hes been stellar. He started and won the Blackhawks final two games of that long November road trip and has only been out one game since.
NHL
The hot hand belongs to Crawford, and the Blackhawks will ride it as long as its such.
Hes given us a chance to win games and dont want to change too much. We like that consistency, coach Joel Quenneville said. Hes taken advantage of the opportunity. He takes up a lot of net, anticipates well. He has that awareness and anticipation and hopefully he can continue to improve off that.
Crawford has a comfort level with many of the Blackhawks, especially the ones he came up through the ranks with. He, Dave Bolland, Troy Brouwer, Bryan Bickell, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jake Dowell all played together in Norfolk a few years ago.
Hes been great, Bolland said. Hes come up and shown what he can do.
The Blackhawks will go with the hot goaltender. Marty Turco was that guy early and Crawfords that guy now. If he keeps up, Crawford could gain a few records for himself. But it will still be about the Blackhawks first.
So far its a lot of fun but we have to keep that same mentality of doing the little things right, Crawford said. Im just taking it shot by shot. Ive got to stop every puck. Thats my thought process right now.
Bolland fine
Dave Bolland was practicing again on Friday after taking a maintenance day on Thursday. He will play Saturday night against the Sharks.
Bolland said the day off was just to heal and that it has nothing to do with previous back problems.
My backs good, its strong, he said. You just get bumps and bruises and you have to take care of them. Its a long season. If you dont, they can linger for a while.
Adjusting
The Blackhawks took advantage of an extra day before their matchup against the Sharks, flying out after practice on Thursday in preparation for Saturdays game.
It seemed like forever getting here, Quenneville said of the nearly 4 -hour flight. We get here, get organized, get used to the time zone there.
The Sharks, meanwhile, didnt get back to San Jose until 2:30 a.m. Friday; they played in Buffalo on Thursday night.
Briefly
Jeremy Morin will likely be recalled from Rockford, and the Blackhawks will probably call up one more along with him, on Saturday.
Defenseman Jassen Cullimore practiced Friday after being out Thursday with a lower-body injury. Quenneville said it looks good as far as Cullimore playing Saturday night.
Quenneville said Jordan Hendry could be back in the lineup against San Jose. Hendrys last played Nov. 7 against the Edmonton Oilers.
The Rockford IceHogs signed veteran NHL center Ryan Johnson to a professional tryout contract on Friday. Johnson played the past two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. He had a goal and four assists in 58 games last season.
Tracey Myers is CSNChicago.com's Blackhawks Insider. Follow Tracey on Twitter @TramyersCSN for up-to-the-minute Hawks information.