Canucks 6, Blackhawks 3 – Recap

Scoring

1^st Period

6:17 CHI Toews (PP) (Hossa, Daley)

9:32 VAN H. Sedin (PP) (D. Sedin, Edler)

15:18 VAN Hansen (H. Sedin, Bartkowski)

16:10 CHI Garbutt (Toews)

2^nd Period

7:22 VAN D. Sedin (PP) (H. Sedin)

3^rd Period

12:20 CHI Anisimov (Daley, Kane)

14:35 VAN D. Sedin (H. Sedin, Edler)

16:36 VAN D. Sedin (H. Sedin, Hansen)

19:22 VAN Burrows (PP, EN) (Hamhuis, Horvat)

Penalties

1^st Period

3:04 CHI Mashinter: 5 min. – Fighting against Prust

3:04 VAN Prust: 5 min. – Fighting against Mashinter

5:38 VAN Bartkowski: 2 min. – Tripping against Toews

7:34 CHI Hjalmarsson: 2 min. – Cross checking against Hansen

8:25 CHI Toews: 2 min. – Tripping against Burrows

2^nd Period

7:01 CHI Garbutt: 2 min. – Hooking against Hamhuis

12;02 VAN Sbisa: 2 min. – High-sticking against Anisimov

3^rd Period

19:01 CHI Kane: 2 min. – Slashing against H. Sedin

 

I am out of patience with Corey Crawford. This is exactly what I feared when the Hawks kept him this past off-season, instead trading Raanta: that he’s a good, not great, goalie, who was made to look better by the team around him. He has his moments; the 2013 Playoffs and 2015 Final immediately come to mind. The Hawks don’t win either Cup without him. He’s had some really lousy moments, too; the 2014 Western Conference Final and first round of the 2015 Playoffs immediately come to mind. The Hawks don’t win the Cup last year without Darling, too. He had a stretch early this season where he was excellent. He recorded back-to-back shutouts in that stretch. But lately, he’s been average on a good night and terrible otherwise. If the Hawks are going to contend for the Cup again, much less make the Playoffs, they have got to get better goaltending and right now, I don’t see a much reason to believe that’s going to come from Corey Crawford. Will they trade him? Of course not. Should they? Of course.

Trevor Daley should get traded, too. Maybe package him with Crawford. Gustafsson has played well enough to earn a spot on the ice. Svedberg isn’t great, but is good enough to play every now and then for Rozsival. Daley just doesn’t fit this system defensively and isn’t making plays offensively.

The rest of the team was mostly fine. They got 3 and Kane extended his point streak in the process. That only makes Crawford’s play that much more frustrating.

My picks for 3 stars:

★★★ Jonathan Toews, C, CHI(1 G, 1 A)

★★ Henrik Sedin, C, VAN (1 G, 4 A)

★ Daniel Sedin, LW, VAN (3 G, 1 A)

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com