"Have faith," one gentleman said.
Boy was that easier said than done yesterday. The Hawks stunk so badly I wanted to do the old remote toss.
I've been watching and playing hockey since I was 7 years old, when my dad whisked me away one sunny April afternoon from my first grade class claiming I had a dental appointment.
When we arrived to our actual destination, the Old Chicago Stadium, I was introduced to the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time. There were my Hawks heroes I'd only heard about on the radio and read about in the newspaper taking on the Minnesota North Stars --- in a winner-take-all Game 7 --- in what was one of the nastiest sports rivalries mankind has ever produced.
My father was kind enough to bring earplugs, and when soloist Wayne Messmer - the 1980s version of Jim Cornelison - belted out the National Anthem, I was literally scared. Sound had feeling. The seats were vibrating. The concrete was actually shaking below me while the noise was a deafening 120 decibels, as loud as standing near a jet engine that had just fired up.
All around me, angry drunk men wanted blood. Minnesota's.
The Hawks went on to win the game 7-4 - and the series - that day. I was hooked. I remember wearing the red iron-on Hawks T-shirt to class my dad bought me that day to school as often as he'd let me.
Point being, me and hockey go way back. I didn't just jump on this wagon. This isn't my first rodeo. Pick your metaphor, because my point is the same.
Rallying from a three-goal deficit is hard enough, but doing so in the NHL playoffs the way the Hawks did last night is near impossible. History says so. So forgive me if I was momentarily stunned when the Hawks rallied to win, 4-3, in double overtime, to take a 1-0 series lead from a Tennessee-based bunch that probably has nightmares about guys named Kane, Toews, Hossa and Keith by now.
Some of my opinions about hockey ruffle some feathers from time-to-time, but that's okay. Several weeks ago, when I posted on Twitter that I felt Scott Darling was recently playing more fundamentally sound hockey than Corey Crawford, people got mad. Real mad.
The thing is, even when I have an unpopular opinion, I don't have that opinion for shock value. That's not me. My opinions come with thought and reason attached. If people don't agree with them, no hard feelings. That's what makes sports fun for us all.
My opinion about Crow, who was yanked at the end of the first period last night, is based on things I see, and countless playoff games I've seen firsthand over three-plus decades of watching Hawks teams that were good, bad, or downright ugly.
I don't hate Corey Crawford. He's an elite goaltender. And will be the Hawks' #1 for a long time. My lone knock on him is sometimes I feel he takes poor angles when facing shots, such as coming too far out of the net, not hugging the post tight enough during some plays, or not keeping his stick down on the ice at crucial times.
These things don't happen all the time. But they occur enough for my seasoned eyes to notice them when they do. They're little things that matter.
Last night, Crawford had one of those off nights, which included a terrible play behind his net that led to an easy Nashville score. When Crawford struggles, they're usually things that appear to involve brief lapses in focus. I don't know why they happen, but they do.
Goaltending in the NHL isn't easy. It's a thankless job that gets you ripped when you lose, and heaped with praise when you win. So I'll gladly give Corey Crawford a pass, especially since there are 18 other skaters out there who didn't play all that well in front of him yesterday during the opening period. He's won a Stanley Cup. I get that.
But backup goalie Scott Darling, who came on in relief of Crawford and stopped all 42 shots he saved, including pressure packed ones in OT and double OT, is going to be an impact goalie in the NHL for a long time. Whether he stays in Chicago for a while or not remains to be seen, but the fact he's from Illinois gives us a leg up, and having two outstanding goalies on the west side of Chicago is an awesome problem to have.
If coach Joel Quenville wasn't confident in Darling's abilities, he wouldn't have replaced Crawford last evening. And he wouldn't have been given a contract extension and a raise by the Hawks if the organization wasn't confident in his tremendous ability.
For 60-plus minutes last night, Darling made some of the best saves I have ever witnessed in postseason play in my 38 years. He's big. He moves with lightning reflexes from post to post. He squares to shooters. His eyes are constantly glued to the puck in his own zone.
Does that mean I feel he's better than Crawford? I'm not ready to jump to that conclusion yet. But hockey is a funny thing, and riding a hot goaltender in the playoffs can literally win you a Stanley Cup.
Now, coach Q has a huge decision to make. Does he go with Crawford, the seasoned vet who has been yanked three different times over the past month and a half in Game 2, or Darling, who has one postseason appearance under his belt - albeit one that was worthy of a heavyweight hockey title belt?
That's why they pay Quenville the big bucks. I'm just a sportswriter with an opinion.
An opinion that hopes he gives the kid another shot in Game 2, and that by doing so, Hawks fans realize it's not because Corey Crawford is suddenly bad, or disliked.
When a baseball hitter is on a hot streak, you keep putting that hitter in the lineup. When a point guard comes off the bench and scorches defenses, you give him more time on the court. When your backup football QB lights up defenses, you take a closer look.
I just think right now, since the Hawks have a tendency to have lapses during games, you need a goalie who's standing on his head. And like it or not, Scott Darling is the guy who seems to be doing that right now.
It reminds me of the early 90s, when the Hawks had a pair of goalies on their rosters who both wound up becoming Hall-of-Fame caliber goalies, in Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour. Both got lit up and swept by the eventual Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the Final.
Does that mean both goalies were bad? Nope.
I'm not suggesting Darling is headed for the Hall of Fame after one amazing playoff win. But like it or not, he's the reason the Hawks aren't facing a 1-0 series hole as you wake up today.
Here's hoping Q hops on that horse and rides him to the finish line again in Game 2.
Call it a hunch.
