CHICAGO, Ill. – A late period goal in the third helped the Chicago Blackhawks shift the momentum of the game and possibly the series. Using an overtime goal by Andrew Ladd the Blackhawks evened up the series by winning against the Vancouver Canucks 2-1. This victory tied the Western Conference semifinals series at two games a piece where it now shifts to Vancouver for Game 5 on Saturday. In the first period of every game so far this series the Blackhawks have not been able to get a score on the board and tonight was no different. For the period the ‘Hawks fired twice as many shots on goal as the Canucks with eight but Roberto Luongo was solid in net. The period went by quickly with no scoring and only one penalty called on each side. The worry for the ‘Hawks going into the second was to see if their netminder Nikolai Khabibulin was sharp enough after facing little action in the previous period. Close to midway through the period Chicago started their attack. They had opportunity after opportunity in a shift that started to wear out the Vancouver defense. Luongo made save after save only to see the Canucks score. Vancouver’s Ryan Johnson blocked the puck and it rebounded out to teammate Rick Rypien in the neutral zone. Rypien skated in, did a spin-o-rama around a ‘Hawks defenseman, backhanded a pass to Darcy Hordichuk. Hordichuk then went in alone and tapped in the puck at the 8:32 mark of the period. For most of the third, the period was played at a simple pace. Vancouver controlled the play and the momentum of the game not allowing Chicago to get deep and sustain pressure in the Canucks zone. But late in the period the ‘Hawks held control of the puck and drew three defenders close to the far boards. Ladd plucked the puck off the boards and passed to Martin Havlat who drove towards the net and fired a shot 20 feet out that squeezed in between Luongo’s left arm and body to knot the game with 2:44 left in the game. In overtime the momentum finally shifted to the Chicago Blackhawks. With the fans now energized like it was the beginning of the game, both teams came out strong in the period taking every chance. Both teams pressured hard from the get-go with both goaltenders making spectacular stops on every shot. On the same shift, Khabibulin made two pad saves that could have easily gone in. After the last stop by Khabibulin the ‘Hawks took possession on the last rebound and three players skated down with speed converging towards the area in front of the Canucks net. The ‘Hawks took two shots on Luongo with the last one rebounding slowly out to the near circle to Dave Bolland. Bolland then took a one-timer towards the net that was deflected by Ladd past the outstretched Vancouver netminder for the game-winner. It was a well-deserved win as Chicago strongly out-shot Vancouver 28-15. No goals were scored on the special teams where the penalties were mostly evenly matched and did not have an influence on the game. Commentary and Notes The ‘Hawks slow start in the series was attributed mainly to the penalties that the team took. The penalties took the flow out of the game. This game had the same flow problems but the penalties weren’t the cause. Even though they were heavily outshot Vancouver controlled the pace of the game and their ability to box out the ‘Hawks and control the area in front of Luongo. But in the end Chicago’s speed in neutralized the Canucks to turn the game around for the home team. Vancouver was again without Pavol Demitra and Sami Salo due to injuries. Salo is close to coming back but was kept out of the game. With the win the 22,682 fans at the United Center will now get a chance to see their team at least one more one more time at home for Game 6 on Monday night.
Contact the author at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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