Goaltender Corey Crawford has seen just about everything Blackhawks teammate Patrick Kane has to offer during practice when it comes to shootout moves.
“He probably scores half the time on me,” Crawford said. “You never know what he’s going to do; that’s why he’s so good. He changes up quite a bit and kind of fools goalies.
“He’s got a good shot, too, so you … have to respect him if you’re the other goalie. He’s definitely one of the tougher guys in the league on shootouts.”
The Stars’ Kari Lehtonen discovered that the hard way during the Hawks’ 3-2 victory Thursday night in Dallas. Kane cruised into the slot, deftly stick-handled until Lehtonen was off balance and then flipped a backhanded shot into the upper-right corner of the net for the only shootout score.
It was a calculated move from perhaps the most creative, spur-of-the-moment playmaker in the league.
“I knew what I was doing the whole way down,” Kane said. “I had kind of a gut feeling, whether it was watching video before the game or trying some things in practice. I just put a move in the back of my head and stuck to it the whole way.”
That particular deke was a mainstay for Kane earlier in his career, and he was often successful even when goalies knew it was coming. The winger opted to try several maneuvers last season.
“Sometimes you try some different things,” he said. “I know the backhand was good for a while, then I was working on that slow-down move that seemed to be pretty effective for a little while.
“You’ve just got to switch it up and try to come down with a couple moves. Look at (Jonathan Toews), he comes down every time and has a different move and ends up scoring a lot. You try to put some different things in your arsenal.”
The score pulled Kane into a tie for first among active players with 15 game-deciding shootout goals. It also helped exorcise some demons for Kane, who was a head-scratching 1-for-11 in shootouts last season.
“I have as many as I did last year right now, so it’d be nice to keep improving on that and get us some more points when needed,” Kane said. “It’s frustrating when you think you’re good at something and you can’t seem to figure it out. It’s nice to start off this year the right way in that category.”
Local hero: A fairly large contingent of relatives and their friends are traveling from Kane’s hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., to watch him skate against the Sabres on Saturday night in the Hawks’ home opener.
“It’s always cool to have them coming into Chicago and just knowing a lot of people are watching back home,” Kane said. “To play the Sabres is always fun and a game to get up for and try to play well.”
Fancy stats: Toews has heard a lot about the recent focus on advanced statistics in hockey, but the Hawks captain said he doesn’t “really follow it.”
“When you watch hockey, you see the things that mean the most for a team to be a winning (one) kind of jump out at you,” Toews said. “I don’t think you really need to look that deep, but I guess there are some ways you can find truths and patterns and things that maybe not-so-good teams repeat and make changes to that.
“I don’t look that close at the game. If I did, I’d be thinking too much, and I already think enough as it is out there.”
Practice report: Winger Patrick Sharp did not practice Friday, receiving a veteran’s rest day. Defenseman Michal Rozsival (upper body) skated after practice, and coach Joel Quenneville said the team is targeting next week for his return.
Freelance reporter Scott King contributed.
Twitter @ChrisKuc
