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CHICAGO -- Is there any chance the Chicago Blackhawks would be interested in trading for Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo?

Luongo said he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause, and it sounds like the Canucks might accommodate him.

A source told ESPN.com's Pierre Lebrun that Chicago could be on the short list of teams Luongo would be willing to be traded to.

Coincidentally, Luongo and Hawks starter Corey Crawford share the same agent in Gilles Lupien.

But does Luongo make any sense for the Blackhawks?

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CHICAGO -- The changing of the guard in the West is now complete.

The Phoenix Coyotes joined St. Louis, Nashville and Los Angeles in the second round of the playoffs; a fresh-faced group signaling not only a new era in the Western Conference but also a change in style of play.

All four teams, to varying degrees, play defense-first systems and win low-scoring games when they're having success.

"I really do think it has a lot to do with team play," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said after Monday's 4-0, series-clinching win. "You look at the way Nashville plays, St. Louis plays, I think that's how you have to win in today's hockey. Probably the best example is the Boston Bruins last year. They were a hard, committed team that just grinded through series and ended up being the Stanley Cup champion."

All four of these defense-first teams are backed by some serious goaltending in Mike Smith, Jonathan Quick, Pekka Rinne and the Jaroslav Halak/Brian Elliott duo.

Much like the Sharks, Blues and Red Wings in these playoffs, the Blackhawks were stymied against the Coyotes, scoring only 12 goals in six games.

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CHICAGO -- The 300-level rowdies were howling in the third period when the Chicago Blackhawks' Jimmy Hayes was sent off the ice for a brutal boarding call on Michal Rozsival, who lay prone on the ice.

“That’s not a penalty!” one yelled.

This was halfway through the period and en route to a season-ending 4-0 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. You wondered about the irony there, or maybe the hypocrisy, but really, you almost felt sorry for the bloodthirsty lot.

After all, they’re hockey fans, not irony fans. To the provincial, the Hayes’ hit wasn’t brutal, it was just a “hockey play.” Brutal was going 0-3 at home and missing all 39 shots in Game 6.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has elected to start goalie Corey Crawford in Game 5 against the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday.

With the Hawks trailing their Western Conference quarterfinal 3-1, Quenneville indicated Friday the team was discussing internally what to do with the goalie situation after Crawford gave up soft goals in overtime in Games 3 and 4.

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Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Friday he's considering pulling starting goaltender Corey Crawford in favor of Ray Emery for Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Phoenix Coyotes.

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CHICAGO -- Sometimes overtime hockey simply comes down to who will make the big mistake first. Fatigue sets in, the mind wanders and poor technique follows. Maybe that’s why Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford let in a bad-angle goal by Mikkel Boedker on Tuesday, ending his team’s chances of taking their first lead in their playoff series against the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Hawks lost, 3-2, and Crawford knows he let in a bad one.

“Terrible goal,” he said after the game. “We dominated overtime. I thought my night, I was feeling good all game long. I just feel bad giving that one [up] after our guys battled in overtime. That one was definitely on me.”

Crawford has made his share of good saves in the series, but sometimes it’s the ones that aren’t made that are remembered. This was one of them.

“It’s tough,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said about the winning goal. “Never a good ending when you lose in overtime. Just have to regroup. But that one hurt.”

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Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford talks about his performance so far in the playoffs and shares what he's learned about the Phoenix Coyotes.



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DETROIT -- Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Ray Emery has agreed to a one-year contract extension, the team announced on Saturday.

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CHICAGO -- A quick look at the Chicago Blackhawks' 5-4 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday at the United Center.

How it happened: Devin Setoguchi scored the game winner in the shootout after the Hawks fought back from a 4-2 deficit. Though it was a back-and-forth game, the home team never led. The Hawks got down 2-1 after one period and 4-3 after two but tied it on Patrick Kane's power-play goal late in the contest. Defensive breakdowns and shaky goaltending helped incur the damage as Setoguchi, Dany Heatley, Clayton Stoner and Kyle Brodziak all scored for Minnesota. Stoner’s goal was his first this season. For the Blackhawks, Patrick Sharp scored in the first period and Viktor Stalberg briefly tied the game in the second, but Stoner and Brodziak’s goals came 20 and 61 seconds after Stalberg’s. Those were the back-breakers. Kane’s goal midway through the second period pulled the Hawks within one before he scored again in the third.

What it means: For the second straight night the Hawks played sloppy on defense. A little bit of everything contributed to their woes and this time it was against the worst offense in the NHL. Minnesota hadn’t scored four (non shootout) goals in exactly a month. They got to four before the game was halfway over. Ray Emery was just a little less than sharp, but, once again, men were open in front of him and pucks weren’t cleared in time. That’s eight goals (before the shootout) given up in two nights. But the Hawks’ own resiliency on offense is reminiscent of their play midseason when they outscored teams to earn big wins -- though their defensive issues at the time came back to haunt them when that offense dried up. Duncan Keith returns from his suspension on Thursday and it might be at about the right time for the Hawks to shore things up before the playoffs.

What’s next: The Hawks are off until taking on the Wild again on Thursday, this time in St. Paul.

CHICAGO -- Maybe playing without suspended defenseman Duncan Keith was too much to overcome for the Chicago Blackhawks -- at least for the first game. Add the absences of Jonathan Toews and Marcus Kruger and maybe that’s the reason the Hawks fell so easily, 6-1, to the Nashville Predators on Sunday.

After the game, though, you wouldn’t find a Blackhawks player who’d use that as an excuse, as plausible as it might be.

“Obviously missing our top guys makes a difference but we’ve played well without Johnny,” goalie Corey Crawford said. “We just have to find a way to get some points.”

But the Hawks only played well without Toews after going through some growing pains. They were 1-3 in the first four games without their captain before turning things around, going 9-1-1 in their next 11.

“Those are good players, but you can’t sit here and make excuses after the game, especially after a performance like that,” Patrick Sharp said. “We have a good team that we put on the ice today. We just didn’t play like it.”

That might be true, but when you’re missing your top two centers and half of your top defensive duo it’s bound to have an effect -- at least until other players feel out some new roles.

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Former Blackhawks' goalie Ed Belfour discusses coming back to Chicago to be honored by the team.

CHICAGO -- With Chicago Blackhawks goaltending you can never be too sure. That’s why when Ray Emery won third star of the week honors in the NHL at the beginning of March it still didn’t signify anything more than he was the goaltender for the moment.

Now the net is back to Corey Crawford. He did one better than Emery by taking home second star honors for last week, going 3-0 with a 1.09 goals-against average. Like Emery in his week, Crawford’s confidence boost came in relief when he shut down St. Louis for the final two periods while the Hawks fought back from a 3-1 deficit.

His wins in Dallas and against Washington were just as impressive but consider this: he faced a total of 58 shots in 165 minutes of hockey in those three wins. That is a perfect total, though he might say going the first 16 minutes in Sunday’s win over Washington is too long not to face a shot.

But for any Hawks’ fan, if the puck is stuck along the perimeter or in the opponent’s zone as much as it was Sunday, they’ll take a rusty goaltender. And even if that rust comes back to haunt Crawford once in a while, the fact that the Hawks are getting leads means they can withstand an awkward goal here and there. That wasn’t the case previously when pressure mounted on Crawford while the defense figured out its game.

Just as it was foolish to declare Emery the playoff starter in early March, we still can’t do the same with Crawford. He’s lost the net one too many times this season to be sure of anything before the calendar turns to April. After all, star of the week for the one upcoming is up in the air. As quick as Crawford won his honors -- and the net -- Emery could always take it back.

Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville isn’t the type to make sweeping declarations about the identity of his No.1 goaltender. So the NHL essentially did it for him by awarding Ray Emery with third star of the week honors.

Emery is entrenched -- at least for now. He’s been in net for the last three wins, including back-to-back stellar 2-1 road victories which have given renewed hope that the Hawks will put together a good finish to the regular season.

“I think he’s grown as the year has progressed,” Quenneville told reporters Monday, after naming Emery the starter for Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. “Once the season started, I think every game he’s been solid.”

There have been a few hiccups here and there, but Emery has more than done his part as the backup who came to training camp on a tryout. Now it’s his starting job to lose down the stretch.

“He’s fit in nicely with our team, absorbing some responsibility in an earlier stretch,” Quenneville said. “Now it’s a big time for us and he’s stepping forward. We like it.”

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DETROIT -- A quick look at the Chicago Blackhawks' 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday.

How it happened: The winning goal came late in the second period when Patrick Sharp put a no-look pass in front of the Wings net, finding Patrick Kane, who slid a back-hand shot by goalie Joey MacDonald for the score. The teams exchanged goals in the first period, Sharp scoring from the point on a power play followed by a Niklas Kronwall goal from the blueline after a nice play by Darren Helm to feed him. MacDonald replaced Jimmy Howard after the first period. Howard left the game with an undisclosed lower-body injury. The Hawks played a smart, and desperate, third period to maintain the slim lead and come out on top.

What it means: It’s another gutsy effort by the Hawks as they’ve taken the first two games of the road trip by playing tight defense and opportunistic offense. Sharp showed his versatility with his blast from the point and his nifty pass to Kane for the game-winner. The Hawks have scored a power-play goal in three of four games and it’s made a difference in the last two wins. Ray Emery continues to be solid in net and has most assuredly won the job for at least the near future. The Hawks are learning to win without Jonathan Toews and continue to battle favorably in tight, low-scoring affairs. It’s something that didn’t happen most of the season. Maybe they are rounding into playoff shape, as they improved to 36-24-7. Another solid win anchored by solid special-teams play.

Season series: The Hawks and Wings have played five one-goal games, with the Hawks coming out on top in three of them, but Chicago has a point in all five. Two have gone to overtime and none have combined for more than five goals in any single game. It’s been a great season series with the regular-season finale still to come.

What’s next: The Hawks complete their road trip on Tuesday in St. Louis after a practice day there on Monday.

Maybe there is some life in the Chicago Blackhawks. Playing without Jonathan Toews, against a hot team and goaltender, they skated their way to a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Friday -- and it could have been a lot worse for the Senators.

“I said to the guys after the game I think it’s our biggest win,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters. “It’s exactly what we wanted tonight. We had everybody going. We had short shifts, we had good energy, we had purpose. And we needed a great start to this trip and that’s the type of game we wanted. It was a great game by us. You look back over the year -- I said biggest win -- that may have been our best game.”

That’s high praise from the Hawks coach but it comes well-deserved, especially for Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Andrew Brunette. With five rookies in the lineup, these are the veterans that need to step up, especially on the road and in the absence of Toews. And for the second straight game, Kane, in particular, was flying.

“They missed some A-plus, plus, plus chances,” Quenneville said. “You have to love their puck possession, their threat off the rush, their in-zone possession. It was a dangerous line two games in a row for us. Kane has been tremendous in these games as well.”

Kane dazzled with his passing, finding Brunette on the doorstep several times and earning a break-away chance as well. The lack of finish didn’t come back to bite them, which means the scoring chances should simply increase their confidence heading into Detroit and St. Louis.

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