CHICAGO, Ill – Oh my, what can we say about this ridiculous, roller coaster of a game that was played in front of 22,687 fanatics at the United Center in Chicago? It can be called a tale of three stories as the Chicago Blackhawks eliminated the Vancouver Canucks in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals by a score of 7-5. âHawks forward Patrick Kane had a career game as he scored the hat trick on his four-point night. Vancouver was the last remaining Canadian team in the playoffs and the Blackhawks will now face either the Detroit Red Wings or the Anaheim Ducks in the Conference Finals.
The first period was dominated for the most part by the play of the Chicago Blackhawks who came out flying and out-rushing the Canucks, but Vancouver got the first say in the game. Off the turnover, Mats Sundin flew in on the far lane and at the top of the circle passed the puck across to Mason Raymond, who on the rush fired a wrister in under Blackhawk netminder Nikolai Khabibulin over ha lfway through the period. But exactly two minutes later, Kane got his first of the night as he took the puck in from the blue line and placed it in past Roberto Luongo to knot up the score at a goal a piece and that is where the period ended.
Chicagoâs play carried over into the second as the teamâs power play contributed to the next two goals. Defenseman Brent Seabrook kept the puck in, as he has some many times, and passed the puck in to Calder Throphy candidate Kris Versteeg. Traffic started to converge in front of Luongo and Versteeg slapped a shot in for his third goal of the playoffs at 3:54. Halfway through the second the âHawks were on the power play again. Martin Havlat passed the puck to team captain Jonathan Toews who slid across and found his spot to give his mates a 3-1 lead.
But under a minute later the tide seemed to turn as the momentum started to shift towards Vancouverâs way. The Canucks would come up with three straight goals to take the lead early into the third. Luongo made a spectacular save and Vancouver pressured up the other end as Daniel Sedin wen t in deep and fired a wrist shot towards the far end of the net for the first of this series of goals. At 14:49, Shane OâBrien got his first playoff goal as he got a shot off a screened Khabibulin to tie the game up at three ending the second period. The Vancouver Canucks finished their trifecta at 3:43 as veteran Mats Sundin got a big fat rebound in the slot where he carried the puck in to give his team the lead.
The fans were now on edge trying to figure out what just happened as their lead disappeared. And that feeling stuck with then for almost the next ten minutes of the game. The teams seesawed as they exchanged goals back and forth. The âHawks grinded out the next goal as they threw everything at the puck to keep it in. Patrick Sharp stole the puck from behind the net and passed it to Adam Burish who positioned himself in for the slap shot to tie the game at four. But the Canucks and Daniel Sedin struck again at the 12:15 mark on the power play as he skated easily in on the box play for the Canucks to take the lead and that was the last lead that they would see.
Forty-five seconds later it was Kane again, as he scored on the wraparound that the Canucks could not control. Vancouver had an opportunity on the power play but that was negated when Shane OâBrien was called for a hook and it eventually turned the power play into Chicago favor. Toews was deep again as he took the puck and swept it in on the same side as Kane did on the previous goal. Kane got his hat trick with the empty net goal to end the game in victory for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Luongo didnât have the defense in front of him tonight as he took most of the load in saving any more pucks from going in. He stopped 23 of the 30 shots he faced and it could have well been more if not for a bunch of amazing saves. On the other side, Khabibulin didnât have that great of a game either in letting in five goals on 38 shots but what hurt him a lot was that his team could not win the face-offs in their zone that eventually lead to a few of the goals tonight. Up till this series, Khabibulin has never beat the Canucks in his career in 10 games and now he has four in a series that counts.
Vancouver went one for five on the man advantage where Chicago dominated converting three of the four that they faced. Of the 19 players on the roster for Chicago, outside of the goalies, only five have not scored a goal and only one does not have a point.
Notes
With the game tonight, the Blackhawks organization saw their one millionth fan cross the turnstile this season. Eleven players on the roster for Chicago have never played in an NHL playoff game prior to this season. As the game ended the infamous Detroit chant resonated throughout the stadium even though their next opponent has yet to be determined. What a season this has turned out for the Chicago Blackhawks where they are only eight wins away from their âOne Goalâ for the season.
Contact the author at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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