Preview, Schmeview. Right to it!
The Hawks couldn't have had a better first period, Saturday night. They came out and took a quick 2-0 lead, on ten shots, before the game was ten minutes old. They also held the Kings to only 4 shots, which is perfect. What a period!
The second period wasn't as good, for the Hawks. The Kings were able to score a goal, and cut the Hawks lead in half. The Kings also out shot the Hawks 8-6 in the middle period, and made sure the Hawks didn't run away with this one.
The Hawks looked to have won the game late in the third period, but a very late Kings goal sent the game to overtime. This could have been a back breaker, but the Hawks recovered. In that third, the Kings out shot the Blackhawks 11-8.
It took an overtime and a half, but the Blackhawks finally sent the defending champs home, and sent themselves to the cup finals. Like I said on Twitter, if you would have told me at Christmas that the lockout would end, the Hawks would have a record point streak, and make it to the cup finals, I would have told you to quit bullshitting, yet here we are.
- Not even 4 minutes into the first period, and Duncan Keith opened the scoring. Welcome back, eh? Roszival recognized a slow Kings line change, and got the puck to Keith. Keith was just trying to make it over the blue line and get a rebound, but the puck snuck between Quick's 5-hole and into the net. Queue up that Chelsea, Chelsea!
- Just a couple of minutes later, some miscommunication between Jonny Quick and his defense led to Bickell stealing a waved off ice call and setting up goal number two. The chaos in front caused Quick to end up on his back, with a the puck loose in the slot. Crazy 8s swooped in and scooped up the puck. He skated parallel to net and waited for the defense to clear the open net, and hit the gaping cage. 2-0 Blackhawks.
- The Hawks took 3-2 lead courtesy of Crazy 8s and Bickell, with just under 4 minutes remaining. Jason Williams was chased behind the net by Bickell, and as soon as Bickell's stick got near him, his legs stopped moving and he flopped. Bickell got the puck to Kane who beat Quick. Chaos ensued!
- Brandon Saad made a HUGE play with a minute left in the game to keep the puck pinned along the Kings boards for a good 10 seconds and then create enough trouble on the forecheck to take another 5-10 seconds off. You won't see that on the highlight reel, but it was a huge play and deserves to be pointed out.
- It took until past the halfway point of the second overtime, but the two guys that needed to step up the most put the Hawks into the Stanley Cup finals. Toews stole the puck at the Kings blue line, with Kane streaking up the wing. El Capitan took his time and hit Crazy 8s for the one timer, the hat trick, the winner, and the STANLEY CUP FINALS!
- I guess it was a given that the guys that were going to put the Hawks in the finals would be the bromance brother, Kane and Toews.
- Johnny Oduya had a wide open net in the third period and Quick somehow got a piece of the puck with his blocker.
- A bad Bryan Bickell checking from behind penalty gave the Kings all they needed to tie the game, with over 15 minutes remaining in the game. It was only a matter of time before a stupid Hawks penalty would bite them in the ass, and this was that time. Crawford made the save on the long shot but Kopitar stuffed the rebound past Crawford.
- Toews and Kane worked a beautiful odd man break in the first OT, that almost ended up on Kane's stick with a wide open net, but the pass missed Kane. SO close!
- The Hawks took SEVERAL bad icing whistles in the overtime which led to far too many stressful faceoffs in the Hawks zone. Not smart at this point in the playoffs.
- Kings Captain Dustin Brown and defenseman Robyn Regehr were both minus 3. Woof!
- The Hawks were dogshit at the dots AGAIN. Only Shaw was over 50%.
- Vik Stalberg got caught racing for a loose puck versus Robyn Regehr, which was pretty comical as Stalberg blew by him and got the puck to the net. I'm not going to miss his lack of finishing touch, but I WILL miss his speed. Dude is BLAZING fast.
- The Kings scored their first goal of the game, shorthanded, on the Hawks first powerplay of the game. The Hawks rattled up little pressure and gave up a 2-on-2 shorthanded rush. Crawford made the initial save, but Dwight King followed up and beat Crawford, who had committed to the poke check. Find a clue on the powerplay, for fuck's sakes!
- Andrew Shaw took a crosscheck to the face halfway through the third period that drew blood, but apparently the refs didn't recognize the red liquid coming out of Shaw's face. Should have led to a 4 minute powerplay, but the Hawks only got 2 because the refs called a crosscheck instead of a high stick. Not like the Hawks powerplay can generate anything anyway. What was I thinking?
- The Hawks gave up the game tying goal with seven seconds left in the third. After an icing call, Stoll won the faceoff against Toews, and it got back to the point. The puck was worked to Kopitar who hit Richards with the shot and past Crawford. Not much you can do as a goalie right there. What the....
Courtesy of Mighty Mike D at Cheer the Anthem, and HockeeNight for starting the tradition.
