Glass sparkling in Blackhawks backup plan

CHICAGO -Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Jeff Glass pumped his fists after coming one save short of his first NHL shutout in a 2-1 victory against the Winnipeg Jets at United Center on Friday. It was the culmination of a surreal few weeks for Glass, one of the latest goaltending finds for the Blackhawks.
"I've said it the last couple of weeks but you only really get one of these chances," said Glass, 32, who will start when the Blackhawks host the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC, TVA Sports, NHL.TV). "My chances have come a little later in my life than maybe most, but I recognize this as my chance and I really want to do everything in my power to play as well as I can, help this team win and prove I can help this team win every night."

In recent seasons, Chicago has had a knack for finding backup goaltenders, from Antti Raanta to Scott Darling to Anton Forsberg to Glass. And with Corey Crawford's mounting injuries, those goaltenders have been needed. They've also been successful.
"It's been great, especially when your starting goaltender goes down," Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane said. "Those guys have come in and played amazing and have been a big reason why we've gotten some big wins here.
"Forsberg's been here all year, he works really hard and played well. We probably haven't played as well as we can in front of him. Glass has been a feel-good story throughout the NHL and has played well, too. A couple of good stories."

Crawford has sustained at least one injury in each of his past three seasons; he has not played since Dec. 23, 2017 because of an upper-body injury and is sidelined indefinitely. Here's how the Blackhawks' backups have done in his absence:
* Oct. 21-Oct. 31, 2014: Crawford misses six games with an upper-body injury. Raanta goes 1-2-0 with a .933 save percentage and Darling goes 2-1-0 (.933).
* Dec. 3-19, 2014: Crawford misses eight games with a foot injury. Raanta goes 4-0-0 (.941) and Darling goes 3-1-0 (.931).
* March 17-Apr. 8, 2016: Crawford misses 10 games with an upper-body injury. Darling goes 6-2-2 (.923).
* Dec. 3-22, 2016: Crawford misses 10 games following an emergency appendectomy. Darling goes 6-3-1 (.930).
* Dec. 1-7, 2017: Crawford misses three games with a lower-body injury. Forsberg goes 0-2-1 (.910).
* Dec. 27-present: Crawford has missed nine games and is out indefinitely. Forsberg is 2-2-0 (.915). Glass is 3-1-1 (.918).
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said several factors contribute to finding the right backup goaltender, from scouting to goaltending coach Jimmy Waite's assessments of talent to how well they mesh with Crawford. Bowman said it's also about having "a little imagination.

"You have to be willing to look at a guy who's obviously not thriving or succeeding in his current role but think, 'Are there some attributes to his game that we like?' " Bowman said. "Jimmy Waite's done a tremendous job of working with the raw materials. You bring a guy in who has some good qualities, but some areas that have to be refined."
Director of European scouting Mats Hallin alerted the Blackhawks to Raanta, who was excelling in Liiga (Finnish Elite League) in 2012-13. Forsberg and forward Brandson Saad were acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets for forwards Artemi Panarin and Tyler Motte and a draft pick on June 23, 2017. And then there's Darling and Glass, who each spent several years playing at various levels (Darling was in the Southern Professional Hockey League and Glass in the Kontinental Hockey League). It would seem each would have been a gamble, but Bowman saw it another way.
"When you look at guys like that, there has to be an element in their character to have a lot of determination to kind of stick with it," Bowman said. "Scott probably more so than Jeff, because he played in so many different leagues and so many different teams, but give Jeff credit for going to Russia and sticking it out.
"Some guys go there for one year to try and make some money, but it's a different lifestyle. The common denominator with those two is the perseverance they have. In their cases, that's probably what attracted us to them. These guys have had a lot of different experiences, they've been in so many different places but they haven't given up yet. They're not young guys, but they've found the desire to keep pushing through."
Getting great starting goaltending can be tough enough, but the Blackhawks have found depth at that position for several seasons now. Crawford's injuries have been tough, but thanks to their backup goaltending, they have weathered his absence a little easier.

"The scouts have found goalies who are having a tough time trying to find a place to play," coach Joel Quenneville said. "They get an opportunity here, and I like how they've all seized it.
"It's a competitive world out there. We all know the importance of goaltending. Sometimes you're deeper in your system, as far as three, four or five deep. We'll see how it goes with us, but certainly [goaltending] hasn't been an issue.