Corey Crawford has a Stanley Cup to his name, but he finds himself relegated to backup duty for the second straight game this postseason as Chicago searches for its third Cup in the last six years.
Crawford was benched for Game 3 and will once again ride the pine in Game 4 during his team's Western Conference Round 1 best-of-seven series with the Nashville Predators.
To his credit, Crawford has taken the high road and supported rookie netminder Scott Darling after he took the No. 1 role over, but the 2013 Stanley Cup champion also admitted it's been frustrating.
"I'm not going to lie," Crawford told NHL.com. "It was pretty frustrating at first. I want to be in the net and I want to play. I always did. I always will. But right now, that's not my job ... right now it's to battle hard in practice and be positive in the room and encourage the guys."
Crawford gave up three goals in the first period of Game 1 against the Predators in Nashville last Wednesday, but he was pulled following the frame in favor of Darling. The rookie backstop turned aside all 42 shots he faced and the team even things up then rolled onto a 4-3 triumph in double overtime.
Chicago coach Joel Quenneville showed some faith in his incumbent netminder, putting him back in between the pipes for Game 2 in Nashville, but he yielded six goals on 35 shots on Friday as the Predators won 6-2 and knotted up the series 1-1.
Quenneville then opted to turn to Darling in Game 3 on Sunday and he was stellar again, stifling 35 of the 37 shots he faced as the series shifted to Chicago and the Blackhawks escaped with a 4-2 victory and 2-1 series lead.
Now, with Game 4 looming Tuesday back at the United Center, Darling will get the nod again.
"I'm just trying to work hard," Crawford said. "The only thing I can do now is be ready in case I have to go back in. Other than that, encourage the guys, stay positive, make sure that the body language is good and everything's positive around here, so there's a nice feel around the room and nothing negative. But I felt good today. I was seeing the puck a lot better ... it's a matter of just waiting."
Crawford, 30, was an All-Star this season and led the Blackhawks to 23 wins en route to the Stanley Cup in 2013. He went 32-20-5 with a 2.27 goals-against average, .924 save percentage and two shutouts in 57 games (56 starts) in the regular season.
Crawford, who called Darling an "awesome guy", has appeared in 58 playoff games in his career, but right now all he cares about is watching his team win contests.
"Uh, it doesn't really matter," Crawford said about Quenneville's decision to bench him. "We're up 2-1 in the series. That's all that matters right now is the wins. Everything else doesn't count."
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