After seeing Corey Crawford give up a pair of soft goals in back-to-back games in overtime, many fans in Chicago had high hopes to see Ray Emery get a desperation start in Game 5. With Chicago down 3-1 in their series with Phoenix, desperate moves often happen, but they won’t be happening in Chicago.
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville says he’s sticking with Crawford with his team on the ropes and on the road in Arizona. He tells Tracey Myers of CSNChicago.com that his team needs a lot more of a lot of things to keep this series alive.
“We need more pace, enthusiasm, and we need to be all-out desperate tonight. That’s where we have to get our excitement,” he said. “We have to look at the smaller picture. It’s comparable to last year (when we) found a way to work ourselves back. We have to get some positive encouragement. We’re at the point where talk isn’t going to get it done. We have to get reaction.”
Talk hasn’t done much of anything for the Blackhawks against they Coyotes and while they’ve been strong at the end of games, tying things up in three different games late in the third period, finishing them off has been another story. Getting control of the pace of the game would be a huge thing for Chicago to do as Phoenix has pushed them around often.