GEORGE CASTLE: Emery saves day again, is goalie controversy coming?

CHICAGO | What a hockey-ravenous fan needs months before playoff positioning starts in earnest is a good, old-fashioned goalie controversy.

Coaches don't like such sideshows, so how does Joel Quenneville stop a netminder issue involving off-kilter starter Corey Crawford and backup Ray Emery before it starts?

Quenneville evoked his knowing chuckle before Sunday's Blackhawks 3-2 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks, deflecting questions with skill akin to a Vezina Trophy winner kicking away pucks.

"It's a nice situation," Quenneville said. "Ray's played well, and has a chance to keep going well in the net. We'll keep making decisions based on their play. ... It's a good situation. Both guys are playing well. Some nights the decisions are tough."

Based on pure performance, Quenneville would find it tough to bench Emery again, who stopped all but one of the Sharks' 23 shots through the first 1½ periods Sunday through Justin Braun's go-ahead goal.

Brand-new dad Patrick Sharp eventually beat old teammate Antti Niemi in overtime, after the Hawks had tied it on Andrew Brunette's score with 1:06 left in regulation. Emery was the unsung hero with 35 saves, his record blooming to 6-1-2.

So far, he has turned aside 68 of 72 shots over his previous four appearances (two starts) coming in, spelling the slumping Crawford.

"We gave up a lot of chances in the first 40 minutes," Sharp said. "The first part of the game wasn't pretty. But he kept us in with a number of big saves. To our team's credit, we stayed with him and played the full 60 (minutes)."

Emery's performing like he has a job to win.

"You feel better the more you play," he said. "I try to not get excited or not get too low when things are going rough. You can always get better and I just want to make the most of the opportunity when I get it."

But Emery's recent upsurge just muddies the waters. Quenneville isn't going to platoon goalies. The Hawks need Crawford to rebound. He's the deep playoff-quality home-grown goalie the Hawks knew was waiting in the wings when they let Niemi escape in last year's salary-cap purge.

Emery is only 29 and might be one of those proverbial late bloomers, but the sum of his experience suggest otherwise -- he's a backup, albeit a dependable one. He hasn't put in a full NHL season since 2006-07, when he was 33-16 with a 2.47 goals-against-average and .918 save percentage for the Ottawa Senators.

Since then, Emery's bounced through the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks organizations, back and forth from the minors and to Russia for one season. He had to rally in training camp to make it as Crawford's backup. You don't want to rely on Emery to take you far into the spring.

If Crawford has been inconsistent or is injured, Emery will do well to fill in for a short period. That's his deal lately as Quenneville, unafraid of quick hooks or radical line changes, has given him an extended mental break.

"I think he's been fine," Quenneville said of Crawford. "He's working on his game. He's waiting for his chance to get back in the net. I think his approach has been fine. We'll measure a little bit more of that when he gets back in."

Crawford needs to get back "in" ASAP. If he stumbles again, Emery replaces him again -- and then comes back to earth -- a goalie with shaky confidence does the Hawks no good. They have places to go and teams to beat this season, but the job is that much harder with a roulette game in goal.

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at DGemsNet@aol.com.