An interesting decision, starting Darling tonight after Crawford stoned Preds on Tuesday. I think most folks would have expected CC to go again tonight. There's probably more than one reason for this decision in Q's mind. Such as:
1/ it is Q's way of testing Darling. There will be some added pressure on Scotty, to see how he performs after CC's success against the same team.
2/ CC has played a lot of hockey and is due for one of his letdown games. That extra day off will be good for him .. and allow him to re-focus on another team after his best outing of the season.
3/ Defensively, the Hawks played lousy for most of Tuesday. Hopefully they'll be better with Darling in there. They'll have to be or Darling could get shelled tonight.
4/ Perhaps in the depths of Q's mind he doesn't expect a win tonight. Preds got burned on Tuesday and they will be more desperate to get points on home ice tonight (to stop their slide in the standings). Q saves Crawford for the game he expects to win, tomorrow vs Jets.
Just my 2 cents on the Q psychology. It could be way off.
Almost forgot this one: Darling stoned Preds last year in the PO's and turned the series around. A repeat of this type of performance may be necessary.