Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews handles the puck against the St. Louis Blues in the second period at the Scottrade Center. He scored twice in the game.(Photo: Jeff Curry, USA TODAY Sports)
ST. LOUIS — Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews believes that the secret of his team’s NHL record-breaking streak has been its ability to act right when things go wrong.
“Any sort of adversity that might get In our way a little bit, we stay positive,” Toews said. “We stick with it.”
BOX SCORE: Blackhawks 3, Blues 0[1]
The Blackhawks stayed with that plan Thursday, losing starting goalie Corey Crawford after one period and forging ahead to shut out the St. Louis Blues 3-0 for their seventh consecutive win. More important, Chicago is 17-0-3, meaning no opponent this season has been able to beat the Blackhawks in regulation.
“It’s great to be mentioned like that in history, but we don’t expect to stay undefeated all year,” said goalie Ray Emery, who replaced Crawford. “But we want to continue to play well all year.”
Crawford stopped six shots in the first period and Emery made 15 saves in the final 40 minutes to give Chicago its third shutout in 18 days.
“We have had some good games to date,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “But that might be the best.”
Quenneville said Crawford has an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. The Blackhawks play Columbus Friday.
The team with the best start in NHL history began Thursday’s game with its best start of the season. Toews scored 12 seconds into the game to give his team the lead and the momentum.
“To give up (a goal) 12 seconds in is unacceptable, especially against a team that is red hot,” said St. Louis captain David Backes, who left the game temporarily after a hit from Brandon Saad.
The Blues have the league’s best power play, but the Blackhawks stopped all five of their power-play chances. The Blues were missing Alex Steen, Andy McDonald and Vladimir Tarasenko.
“We have been hungry and determined every single game,” said Toews, who had two goals in the game.
Toews’ first tally was the fourth-quickest goal in Blackhawks history. The team record is eight seconds, set by Brent Sutter in 1995.
“(Toews) is going to be there all night if you let him, and we let him and there he was,” Backes said.
Considering that Emery is 9-0 this season, it wasn’t as if the Blackhawks were panicked when Crawford left.
“In a case like that, we know Ray can step in,” Toews said.
Dating to last season, the Blackhawks have not lost in regulation for 26 games.
“We played a patient game,” Toews said, noting that has been the team’s trademark all season.
GAME-BY-GAME LOOK AT THE STREAK
References
- ^ http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/blackhawks_blues/2013/02/28#box-score (content.usatoday.com)
- ^ Last Slide (rssfeeds.usatoday.com)
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