Add another OT winner to this mans’ resume! (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)
Everyone said after the first game of this series that they had seen the definition of playoff hockey and what it should always be. I can’t say I will deny that now but game four came close. This is one heck of a series.
Game four started much better than game three from the first puck drop simply because Toews actually won the face-off. The Hawks won less than 30% of face-offs in game three (16 of 56). You will probably read elsewhere that after that, the Hawks continued to control play. They did outshoot the Bruins 7-0 over the first seven or so minutes and while the chances were good, I never got a feeling they were controlling play. But the play was mostly by Rask so I’ll take it.
Of course the Hawks tried to ruin any momentum they had a little over five minutes into the game when Oduya decided to go to the penalty box. (I’m really not a fan of the defense he plays most of the time.) The good news is this was the special team the Hawks are good at it and that remained as they not only prevented the Bruins from scoring, they actually got a shorthanded goal to take a 1-0 lead. Seguin lost the puck leading to a 2-on-1 for Saad and Handzus with the first passing to the second for the goal.
That woke up the Bruins a little bit as they got some chances but nothing too threatening. Six minutes after the goal, the Hawks figured that their first penalty kill went so well so they should do it again. This one didn’t go as well. They got trapped in their zone for an extended period but managed to finally get a face-off with 15 seconds to go. They won the face-off but lost the puck and then Saad did something I can’t really explain but led to Peverley getting the puck with a wide open net and tying the game. Lucky bounce would be an understatement but it counts. Since Saad made the play on the first goal, I guess I can’t get too mad at him for it but whatever he attempted to do wasn’t pretty.
The Bruins woke up for the rest of the period and it looked like it could be trouble for the Hawks. Then they did the worst thing possible – they took a penalty. I will admit that the Hawks looked semi-competent for the first 30-40 seconds but then a breakaway for the Bruins led to the end of the power play as Keith went to the box for tripping Peverley. It was probably a penalty but when calling a trip, the referees arm should be up as the guys go down, not as they are getting back up five seconds later.
Either way, power play over and to 4-on-4 we went for the remainder of the period. Fortunately the Hawks were able to kill that as well as the shortened power play that followed it. The next five minutes seemed sloppy by both teams to me.
Then a miracle happened. We found two guys wearing white jerseys named Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. First it was Toews tipping a Michal Rozsival shot from the point to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. Two minutes and eight seconds later, it was Kane finding the rebound of a Bickell shot to make it 3-1. Rozsival got the puck to Bickell for his second assist of the period.
A minute later the Hawks went back on the power play. This time it lasted the entire two minutes. That’s usually not a good thing but this one definitely looked competent and had chances. Obviously there was more when Rozsival was on the point with the period he was having but my only complaint was that it didn’t score.
Three minutes after it ended, the Bruins managed to get within one as Lucic got a rebound past Crawford. Less than a minute later, Frolik and Kruger went on a 2-on-1 with the first passing to the second. The initial shot by Kruger was pushed into Rask’s pad but he got the rebound and this time was able to lift it to restore the two goal lead.
A minute later the Hawks went back on the penalty kill and with their power play becoming competent, apparently that means their penalty kill no longer is as the Bruins scored their power play goal of the night with less than three minutes to go in the period. The craziness wasn’t over as the Bruins almost tied it on some crazy bounces in the last minute. Somehow the Hawks got out with a one goal lead. The looks on the players’ faces on both sides said it all as the buzzer sounded – we need intermission right now.
Obviously only one team used the intermission and that would be the Bruins who came out flying and therefore were able to tie the game less than three minutes in. Halfway through the period, it looked like we were headed to overtime at 4-4. Then a bunch of penalties taken one after another led to a short Hawks 4-on-3 and then even shorter 5-on-3. Of course they did nothing with those but then another miracle happened. While the 5-on-4 power play was winding down, the puck came to Sharp in front of an empty net and he finally buried one after numerous chances earlier in the evening. His celebration said it all:
Of course the Hawks couldn’t hold the lead. In fact they couldn’t even hold it for a minute as 55 seconds later, Boychuk rifled one from the point that beat Crawford to tie the game again. This time the tie stayed and once again we headed to overtime. Great game for the goalies tonight.
I had a good feeling going into the game but not a good feeling going into overtime. Halfway through the period, the Hawks showed that I should’ve gone with my original instinct as the puck squirted out to the point and Seabrook slammed it home to give the Hawks the win and tie the series.
So what does that goal mean besides ending the Bruins home winning streak at seven? The Blackhawks got goals from Toews, Kane, Sharp and Seabrook with one of those coming on the power play. Is it possible that the team that ran to the President’s Trophy in the regular season is finally arriving in the playoffs? If so, they couldn’t have arrived at a better time.
