Blackhawks Advance to Stanley Cup Finals

CHICAGO, Ill. – The Chicago Blackhawks return to the Stanley Cup Finals after sweeping the San Jose Sharks by winning Game Four by the score of 4-2. This will be the team’s first appearance since 1992 when they were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The last time the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup was back in 1961 against their nemesis Detroit Red Wings.
 
Left Winger Dustin Byfuglien scored his third game-winner of the series while scoring a goal in each of the four games. Byfuglien came into the league as a defenseman but once he made it to Chicago the coaches decided to switch him to win and that has paid dividends. Earlier in the playoffs he was shifted back to defense due to injuries but once he was placed back, he was on a roll.
 
Coming into the game, the San Jose Sharks new what they had to do and place the 3-0 series deficit behind them. Head Coach Todd McLellan made some changes to start the game by moving Devin Setoguchi up to the first line. The changes seems to work for the first half of the game as the team got off to a good start scoring two goals. Setoguchi settled the puck at the boards and turned around and fired it on net. The puck rebounded to rookie Logan Couture who got the wrist shot in on the far side past Antti Niemi for the first tally of the game 11:08 into the period.
 
Then in the second on an odd play and short-handed, the Sharks recovered a shot in the slot and as the puck was being shot out of the zone it hit ‘Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith flush in the mouth and into the neutral zone. Keith immediately went off the ice but the Sharks continued, San Jose’s goal leader in the playoffs, Joe Pavelski rushed the puck on in and passed it back to defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic in the slot. Vlasic ripped a shot to Patrick Marleau at the far circle and slapped the one-timer in for his eighth playoff goal and fifth of the series at the 7:35 mark.
 
Keith, a Norris Trophy finalist went off the ice for repairs and returned later in the game. It was noted that he was at least a minus 4, in teeth that is, but it can be as many as seven all together. That itself makes you just want to give him the trophy right now.
 
Injuries started to pile onto the ‘Hawks as left wing Andrew Ladd left early in the game with an undisclosed injury. It looked like it came when he went into a check and came out of it favoring his left side. In street clothes at the end of the game but he is expected to come back for the Finals.
 
So now Chicago Head Coach Joel Quenneville needed to shuffle up his lineup with two of his players out. It really didn’t require much since the ‘Hawk are pretty deep in there lineup but his talent in getting the right lineup on the ice made him one up on McLellan in the series. In the first two games away in San Jose, he made it a point to have center Dave Bolland matched up to the Sharks big center in Joe Thornton. And how well did that pan out, it kept Thornton from having a goal in the series. Bolland is given the nickname of “The Rat” because of his play and ability to be a pest on the ice.” This will be important late in the second period with the matchups.
 
The ‘Hawks needed to come together and they did it in a big way for the first goal of the game. It also brought the sellout United Center crowd 22,224 back into the game.
 
Keith’s partner on the blue-line Brent Seabrook took the puck into the zone and went wide towards the net with Marian Hossa and Kris Versteeg converging in. Seabrook tapped the puck in towards the scrum and it was held and waved off by the referee. The call was then placed under review to Toronto’s Situation Room and was eventually called a goal. It appears that the puck was underneath Nabokov but a stick movement pushed it in past the goal line for the score at 13:15 which brought Chicago within one.
 
Here is where the shuffling comes in for the Blackhawks.
 
Ben Eager who is normally out there for his physical presence went after the puck on the near boards. He was facing away from the net while trying to hold the puck along with a San Jose player on his back. He was able to backhand the puck on in behind the net where Bolland met the biscuit to Evgeni Nabokov’s glove side. He took it behind and went around and started to fade away from the net to the far side and in those few ticks saw an opening and took the puck high and wide to bring the Blackhawks within one goal thirteen minutes in the middle frame.
 
With the game now tied going into the third neither team wanted to make THE mistake in the game as we saw no scoring for fourteen minutes. But then it was “Big Buff”, Byfuglien. In a match up with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews how can you not miss? Kane took the puck in and tried to center it to his captain. Toews placed it back to Kane who saw Byfuglien in front of the net. Kane got the dish in to the net and Byfuglien got it in between Nabokov’s pads to give the ‘Hawks the lead.
 
With a minute and fifteen seconds left, Nabokov was pulled for the extra attacker. After the timeout, Sharks couldn’t hold the face off as the puck bounced away. Versteeg controlled the puck at the red line and fired the backhander in to put the game away.
 
Nabokov faced 26 shots but only stopped 23. His team really didn’t give him much support in the shots column as Niemi stopped 16 of the 18 total that came to him.  
 
From the special teams, San Jose was 0-1 with two penalties and a short-handed goal. As for the ‘Hawks, they were 1-4 on Byfuglien’s game-winner.
 
It was revealed at the end of the game that Sharks right wing Dany Heatley was not playing 100% in the series and that he suffered a groin injury in their first round series against the Colorado Avalanche.
 
But the ‘Hawks did pretty well in containing the Sharks. Each game could have gone either way, but the depth and coaching kept Chicago one step ahead. Niemi is a story within the story as his maturity for a rookie was amazing. His focus on the puck and the play in front of him can be matched with any of the best that have played. His lateral movement and recovery makes him even bigger in net. Toews continued to add to his consecutive-points record for the franchise with a point in 13 games. Toews restored the tradition of not touching their conference winner’s trophy (the Campbell Trophy) after Sidney Crosby did last season with the East where they went on to win the Stanley Cup after losing it the year before.
 
Three Stars of the Game
Third Star: Antti Niemi ( Chicago) with a save percentage of .889
Second Star: Dave Bolland ( Chicago) with the first Blackhawks goal of the game
First Star: Dustin Byfuglien ( Chicago) with the game-winner
 
The Chicago Blackhawks will now get a day off Monday and watch to see who might be their opponents in the Finals as the Eastern Conference matches the Philadelphia Flyers who have a 3-1 series lead on the Montreal Canadiens.
 
Western Conference Finals
W1 San Jose Sharks vs. W2 Chicago Blackhawks
Series N
Chicago Wins Series 4-0
 
Sunday, May 16 Chicago Blackhawks 2 at San Jose Sharks 1
Tuesday, May 18 Chicago Blackhawks 4 at San Jose Sharks 2
Friday, May 21 San Jose Sharks 2 at Chicago Blackhawks 3 OT
Sunday, May 23 San Jose Sharks 2 at Chicago Blackhawks 4
 
Next opponent to be announced.
 
Contact the author at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com