Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Blackhawks beat all odds to advance

On Wednesday night, the Chicago Blackhawks showed why they are the best team in the National Hockey League.
Chicago overcame a three-games-to-one series deficit as well as one of the worst calls that you will ever see that would have given them a regulation win, only to come back in overtime on a shot by Brent Seabrook that beat Red Wings' goalie Jimmy Howard and turned the United Center into sheer pandemonium.
With the game tied at one and time running out, Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson fired what appeared to be the game-winning goal past Howard and the Madhouse on Madison erupted. But the goal was waved off by the referee along the boards near center ice after Detroit's Kyle Quincy sent Brandon Saad into the Red Wings' bench. Then, in the same motion, Quincy pulled Saad out of the bench and the two of them tumbled onto the ice. A split second later, Hjalmarsson beat Howard on the glove side for the apparent go-ahead goal.
The Blackhawks would have the last laugh, however, and three-and-a-half minutes into overtime, Seabrook got sweet justice for Chicago and the miracle comeback was complete.
Chicago now moves on to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference finals.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Blackhawks force game 7 in Chicago


The Chicago Blackhawks fought back to force a game seven back in Chi-town on Wednesday with a 4-3 win at Joe Louis Arena on Monday night.
After cruising through the regular season and thrashing the Minnesota Wild four games to one in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs, Chicago found themselves in a precarious position as they were shut out 2-0, down three games to one, and on the brink of being ousted from the 2013 NHL playoffs.
But that was Thursday night. A lot has changed since then.
On Saturday night in Chicago, the Hawks came roaring back as Andrew Shaw led the way with a pair of goals en route to a 4-1 Chicago victory.
The Blackhawks tried to ride that momentum Monday night in Detroit, but found themselves on the short end of a 2-1 score after two periods.
Chicago came out on fire in the third, first tying the game less than a minute into the period, and then going on to score another pair of goals before the midway point of the period had been reached, taking a 4-2 edge in front of a stunned Red Wings crowd.
The fourth Blackhawks' goal was scored on hockey's rarest, but most exciting of plays, the penalty shot. Michael Frolik had beaten Detroit's Carlo Colaiacovo on a breakaway, and then just as Frolik went to shoot at Red Wings' goalie Jimmy Howard, Colaiacovo slashed Frolik from behind across the hands, leading to the free shot. Frolik charged in on Howard, and then lifted a beautiful backhander over Howard's glove side to give Chicago the insurmountable 4-2 lead.
The Wings refused to give up, however, and with less than a minute remaining and Howard watching from the bench, Damien Brunner took a pass from Pavel Datsyuk and deposited his fifth goal of the postseason past Blackhawks' goalie Corey Crawford to pull Detroit to within 4-3.
With the Red Wings still playing with an extra attacker, Chicago iced the puck twice, but precious seconds came off of the clock and Detroit ran out of time.