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 "Every year, that's the goal, to be predictable and consistent," the
Chicago Blackhawks netminder said. "You want to give your team
confidence going into games and (have them) knowing what they're
going to get."
Lately, Crawford has been providing consistent doses of dominance.
He stopped all 26 shots he faced to lift the Blackhawks to a 3-0 win
over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.
The performance marked Crawford's career-high sixth shutout with a
little more than half of the regular season remaining. Crawford has
posted shutouts in four of his past seven starts at home.
"I'm just going out there and battling," Crawford said.
So, too, are Crawford's teammates.
Defenseman Duncan Keith, center Artem Anisimov and left winger
Andrew Desjardins delivered the goals. Chicago (23-13-4) won its
third consecutive game.
Ottawa (18-15-6) lost its third game a row. The Senators have been
outscored 13-3 in the past three contests.
"At this time of year now, all that matters is the result," Ottawa
coach Dave Cameron said. "You have to get points and we did a lot of
good things, but we weren't able to get any points out of it, so I'm
not pleased, no."
Keith said controlling the puck was the key to the Blackhawks' win.
The Senators did not register a shot on goal for nearly six minutes
to start the game, and leading goal scorer Mike Hoffman managed only
one shot from his position at left wing.
"They've got a lot of firepower on their team up front, and guys
that can join the team on the back end," Keith said. "So we wanted
to make them play defense. I thought we did a good job of that."
A slap shot by Keith gave Chicago a 1-0 lead with 11:47 remaining in
the second period. Center Jonathan Toews passed the puck toward the
blue line to Keith, who ripped a shot past goaltender Craig
Anderson's stick side for his seventh goal. Right winger Marian
Hossa screened Anderson on the play.
"I just wanted to get it off as quick as I could," Keith said. "It
was a nice, hard pass to give me more time to get it off."
Chicago increased its lead to 2-0 with 13:59 to go in the third
period. Defenseman Michal Rozsival pinched in from the blue line and
released a rising wrist shot. Anderson stopped Rozsival's shot but
could not corral the puck, and Anisimov knocked in the rebound for
his 15th goal of the season and his third goal in the past three
games.
Desjardins added an empty-net goal with 47.9 seconds remaining in
the third period.
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Ottawa could not solve Crawford despite several high-quality scoring
opportunities. Crawford denied Senators center Mika Zibanejad on a
one-timer from the left circle during an Ottawa power play late in
the second period. Moments later, Crawford stopped a point-blank
shot by left winger Max McCormick.
Anderson stopped 27 of 29 shots in the loss.
"We played a pretty solid defensive road game here and gave
ourselves an opportunity to be in the game," Anderson said.
"Crawford made some good saves when he needed to. That's why he has
won a couple of Cups and he's been on that team, so kudos to him and
his team, but we're going to have to find a way to put the puck in
the net."
The Blackhawks improved to 15-5-1 on home ice.
"I think as a group, we've been playing a lot better at home this
year," Crawford said. "I think we have the puck a lot more. I
haven't seen the stats, but it seems that way, that we're playing
with the puck a lot more in our home games. And our defense is
solid."
NOTES: Chicago LW Bryan Bickell returned to the lineup after a
one-game absence as a healthy scratch. ... Ottawa D Jared Cowen was
a healthy scratch for the second straight game. The 24-year-old
blue-liner has three assists in 32 games this season. ... Chicago D
Michal Rozsival returned after sitting out one game as a healthy
scratch. Rozsival replaced D Rob Scuderi, who was a healthy scratch
for the second time in three games. ... Ottawa LW Dave Dziurzynski
was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. ... Chicago
announced Sunday it had loaned D David Rundblad to a professional
team in Switzerland. Rundblad, 25, notched two assists in nine games
this season. "Playing more is what it's all about," Chicago coach
Joel Quenneville said. ... Chicago acquired RW Richard Panik from
the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night in exchange for LW Jeremy
Morin. Both players have spent this season in the American Hockey
League.
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