Crawford's Injury a Chance for Raanta to Prove Himself

photo from zimbio.com

Today it was announced that Corey Crawford will miss a handful of games for the second time this season, after suffering an off ice lower body injury. Crawford will miss two to three weeks, per Joel Quenneville.

The Blackhawks' goaltending depth is still as strong as it was at the start of the season, with Scott Darling being called up from Rockford to serve as Antti Raanta's backup for the duration of Crawford's injury. This duo went 3-3-0 during Crawford's injury earlier this season, including a shutout for Raanta. Raanta has a save percentage of .933 and a 2.03 GAA, Darling has a save percentage of .933 and a 1.98 GAA.

It's a tough stretch of games to be missing Crawford, who's been one of the best Blackhawks so far this season, sixth in the league in save percentage and fourth in GAA. Their next ten opponents (the games that Crawford is projected to miss) include Montreal, Nashville, St Louis, Boston, New York and Calgary, all teams at or close to the top of their division, so Raanta and Darling will have to step their game up against these teams in particular.

Other news

• Patrick Sharp will not play tonight, but possibly will return some time this weekend. He has missed the past eleven games with a knee injury suffered against Montreal November 4th.