Blackhawks rely on Crawford, balanced scoring attack to take Game 2 from Wild
The Chicago Blackhawks rode the backs of captain Jonathan Toews, snipers Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp and goaltender Corey Crawford to their 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Chicago used a strong second period featuring goals from Toews and Kane, along with spectacular saves from Crawford, to pull ahead of Minnesota.
In the third, Sharp added his fourth postseason goal and Kane put his second of the game into an empty net to seal the deal and a 2-0 series lead.
Star Performer: It's a tough choice as Crawford was stellar, Kane had two goals and Duncan Keith was a workhorse.
The nod goes to the goaltender for keeping his team in the game long enough to wear down the Wild and take home the victory, while also recovering from a slap shot to the mask off the stick of Marco Scandella.
Turning Point: With Chicago up by a goal, Crawford made a big save on Wild forward Kyle Brodziak, who was just inches away from tying the game on a breakaway.
(Courtesy: NHL.com)
Goalie comparison: Crawford's Game 2 showed no resemblance to his Game 1 as he came up big with 30 saves, including some game changers.
Although the Blackhawks scored the same number of goals as they did in the series opener, Devan Dubnyk played better in net for the Wild, making 27 saves.
| Goalie | Shots | GA | Saves | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crawford | 31 | 1 | 30 | .968 |
| Dubnyk | 30 | 3 | 27 | .900 |
Top Highlight: Crawford was the man on Sunday. Not only did he rob Brodziak to keep his team's lead alive in the second period, he also crushed the hopes and dreams of Matt Dumba just one minute later.
(Courtesy: NHL.com)
Dumba would get his revenge in the third period, though, beating Crawford for his team's only goal of the night.
Stat of the night: Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith is used to playing big minutes when it counts and he did it again on Sunday. The blue-liner logged 30:12 of ice time and played over 19 minutes through two periods.
Series at a glance:
Game 1: Blackhawks 4, Wild 3
Game 2: Blackhawks 4, Wild 1
Game 3: Tuesday May 5, 8:00 pm ET
Game 4: Thursday May 7, 9:30 pm ET
Game 5*: Saturday May 9 (TBD)
Game 6*: Monday May 11 (TBD)
Game 7*: Wednesday May 13 (TBD)
*If necessary