Written by Mark Lazerus at Chicago Sun Times.com
If it were entirely up to him, Jonathan Toews would have been playing his usual 20-plus minutes Tuesday night against the New York Rangers, including as much time as he could get on the power play and penalty kill. Heck, if Toews operated in a hockey vacuum and didn’t have to worry about the big picture, he probably would have returned to the ice a whole lot earlier.
But Toews knows as well as any player in the league how the regular season is merely a warmup for the games that really count in the spring. And with the Blackhawks comfortably atop the Western Conference standings, there was simply no reason to rush him back from a minor but persistent back injury.
“It’s at the stage in the season where you don’t want to be playing through too much, because down the road, if whatever you’ve got keeps nagging you and keeps getting worse — you want to be as healthy as you can be come playoff time,” Toews said before Tuesday’s game at Madison Square Garden. “It’s nice to go out there and feel like there’s nothing on my mind. I can go out there and play my game.”
Toews muscled his way through traffic and won 8-of-13 faceoffs during more than 18 minutes of play, showing no ill effects from the back injury. And the Hawks did what they were doing when Toews was out, and what they’ve been doing all season — winning with great goaltending.
Less than a week after being outdueled by old teammate Antti Raanta, Scott Darling returned the favor Tuesday night in a 2-1 victory over the Rangers — the latest highly entertaining battle between the two speedy, skilled teams. Darling finished with 33 saves, including several down the stretch as the Rangers frantically pushed for the equalizer.
Darling has allowed two goals in his last three starts, four in his last four, and seven in the five games since Corey Crawford’s appendectomy thrust him into the starter’s role.
“He’s absolutely amazing,” said Artem Anisimov, pausing between each word for added emphasis “He plays great for us in the net. He makes huge saves in the key time. Amazing right now.”
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