Crawford earns start, Turco has no hard feelings

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Monday, Nov. 29, 2010
1:23 p.m.

By Tracey Myers
CSNChicago.com

Corey Crawford earned the Blackhawks three needed victories on their long road trip. Now it looks like hes earned the start again Tuesday night when the Blackhawks host the St. Louis Blues.

Theres been no official wordcoach Joel Quenneville was attending Pat Burns funeral in Montreal while the Blackhawks practiced on Monday. But Marty Turco was asked if he expected to start Tuesday night, he said no.

He should; hes been playing great, Turco said. He won a few in a row and we want to get on a roll. Im here to win, no matter what. Hes a big part of our team so you want to see him continue to play well and see us keep getting points. Ill just stay ready until I get back in there.

Crawford has won four consecutive starts, including victories in back-to-back games vs. Anaheim and Los Angeles. Crawford has one career start vs. St. Louis, a 6-5 overtime loss back in 2005-06.

Theyve got a newer team last couple of years and I really havent faced them much, Crawford said. Theyre a fast team up front and they have a couple of guys who can play with the puck from the blue line. Theyre a young, energetic team and its going to be a good game.

Troy Brouwer said, We can help him out in clearing out rebounds, clearing shooting lanes, passing lanes for him so he only has to worry about shots. Hes making saves and our defensemen are doing the rest.

The Blackhawks are used to seeing split time among their goaltenders. Nikolai Khabibulin and Cristobal Huet started 42 and 41 games, respectively, in 2008-09. Last season Huet played in 48 regular-season games and Antti Niemi 39 before Niemis play earned him 22 playoff starts.

Crawford is currently sporting a 5-4-0 record with a 2.07 goals-against average. Turco, who is 8-7-2 with a 2.90 GAA, was 1-2-0 on the long road trip.

A few games we didnt play well in; I was in there I couldnt steal any games or wasnt good enough to get the win, said Turco.

There are a few details that you work on; you continue to work on them every day no matter how youre playing, Turco said. My focus has been good, position and tracking the puck well. But you hate not giving the team a better chance to win. You hate not winning. Its a lot more fun and enjoyable (when you do). You just continue to build and do the same and give the team what it needs when I get back in there.

Briefly
Fernando Pisani (upper body) did not practice on Monday. His status for Tuesdays game against St. Louis is not known.

The Blackhawks will play 10 of their next 13 games at home.

Tracey Myers is CSNChicago.com's Blackhawks Insider. Follow Tracey on Twitter @TramyersCSN for up-to-the-minute Hawks information.

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