Goaltending, defense threatening to derail Blackhawks' train

Not long ago, the Blackhawks were in the mix for first place in the Central Division. A division title, if not the President's Trophy, was a realistic goal.

By Monday afternoon, the Hawks were as close in points to eighth-place Minnesota as they were to division and conference-leading Detroit. Five-game losing streaks tend to have that effect. And as troubling as the losses themselves is the reality that some very serious flaws continue to be exposed that could make their playoff appearance very brief ... if they even make one.

Those flaws aren't anything new to people that have watched the Hawks all year, or to people who read this column. Let's just say it like it is this time. The Hawks' defense is bad. Their goaltending may be worse.

There may be help on the way for the first problem, but it hasn't arrived yet, and it's easy to wonder if one defenseman would be enough to shore up the Hawks' defensive woes. General manager Stan Bowman is saying publicly that there will be no acquisition to solve the second problem; Corey Crawford and Ray Emery are the options.

At least the Hawks are finally softening on their Crawford-is-the-guy stance. Ray Emery will get his second straight start Tuesday after Colorado. Coach Joel Quenneville's comments since last Thursday's 8-4 debacle at Edmonton have hinted that Emery may finally have a chance to grab the No. 1 job. Emery did get one extended look in December, but the game after his five-game winning streak ended, Crawford was right back out there. I'm interested to see how he bounces back from an ineffective relief outing against the Oilers and a 3-1 loss Friday at Calgary.

I'm certainly not convinced Emery can be the guy, but I'm just about convinced that Crawford is not the guy. He claims that his confidence is still there, but there was plenty of evidence to the contrary Thursday night. Given a 2-0 lead, Crawford initiated the Hawks' collapse by allowing a Taylor Hall shot in for a soft goal. He then continued his recent trend of losing his net and being inexcusably slow to get up once he's gone down. By the time he whiffed on a Cam Barker shot from the point early in the third, not only did it seem that his confidence was shot, it seems Quenneville's confidence in him is lacking as well.