Blackhawks win 5th straight since Crawford's return from IR

The Chicago Blackhawks must be thrilled to have Corey Crawford back between the pipes.

Coming off a brief stint on the injured reserve with an undisclosed injury, Crawford's return has resuscitated a Blackhawks squad that reeled in his absence. With the two-time Cup winner back in the fold, the Blackhawks have won five straight, with the most recent victory coming in a 3-1 decision over their division rival, the Minnesota Wild, on Sunday night.

The win continued a dominant stretch for Crawford, who has to be strongly considered in the Vezina conversation at this point.

Corey Crawford made 27 saves to backstop the @NHLBlackhawks to their fifth straight win, while extending his point streak to 11 contests (9-0-2). #MINvsCHI pic.twitter.com/XnWr0JCulM

- NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 18, 2017

After Sunday's performance, Crawford now leads all starters with a .935 save percentage and is tied with Andrei Vasilevskiy for tops in the league with a 2.11 goals against average.

While the Blackhawks have plenty of work to do to catch the Predators-Blues-Jets triumvirate currently pacing the Central, their five-game stretch has pushed them into the top wildcard spot in the West, and Crawford is the main reason why.

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