Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville had an opportunity to earn his 750th victory on Saturday against Dallas. After that didn’t work out, goaltender Corey Crawford took it upon himself to make sure that Quenneville wouldn’t have to wait any longer as he led Chicago to a 3-1 victory over Carolina.
Chicago was heavily outshot tonight, but Crawford stood tall, stopping 43 of 44 shots. That’s the most saves he’s made in a single game this season and by doing so he’s reached the 30-win mark for the fourth campaign of his career.
Of course that was overshadowed by Quenneville becoming the third bench boss in NHL history to record 750 wins. He’s closing in on Al Arbour (782), although he’ll have to wait until 2015-16 to claim second place on the all-time list. Meanwhile, no one is even close to Scotty Bowman (1,244).
This was also a milestone night for captain Jonathan Toews, who earned his 500th career point in 556 contests by assisting on Andrew Shaw’s empty-net goal.
“What (Toews) does without the puck and defensively — I think he always should be considered for the Selke, every year,” Quenneville told the Chicago Sun-Times’ Mark Lazerus.
Corey Crawford on #Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville winning his 750th game: "That's a lot."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) March 24, 2015