Monday, September 6, 2010

Hawks Bring Home First Cup Since '61 With Kane's OT GWG

Chicago Blackhawks @ Philadelphia Flyers
Game 6-Round 4-Stanley Cup Finals
6-9-10

Final Score: 4-3 CHI [OT]
Hawks Win Series 4-2
Hawks Win Stanley Cup
Scoring Summary
1st Period
16:49-CHI-PPG-Dustin Byfuglien [11] (Jonathan Toews [22], Patrick Kane [17])
19:33-PHI-PPG-Scott Hartnell [7] (Danny Briere [17], Chris Pronger [14])
2nd Period
8:00-PHI-Danny Briere [12] (Ville Leino [13], Lukas Krajicek [3])
9:58-CHI-Patrick Sharp [11] (Dave Bolland [8], Duncan Keith [15])
17:43-CHI-Andrew Ladd [3] (Niklas Hjalmarsson [7], Kane [18])
3rd Period
16:01-PHI-Scott Hartnell [8] (Leino [14], Briere [18])
Overtime
4:06-CHI-Patrick Kane [10] (Brian Campbell [4])

The game all Hawks fans and the players themselves had been waiting for finally arrived last Wednesday: the chance to clinch the Stanley Cup.

Game 6 was back in Philly, and the Hawks had yet to win there all year, including the one regular season game between them.

They were up for the challenge as they struck first on the power play, with Enemy Number 1 in Chicago, Chris Pronger, in the box for high sticking.
From the top of the right circle, Patrick Kane gave the puck to Jonathan Toews just below it.
Toews threw the puck to the front of the net where big Dustin Byfuglien was lurking and he tipped it five-hole on Flyers goalie Michael Leighton.

At 19:07, Brent Sopel was called for interference which gave the Flyers a late period power play.
Pronger controlled the puck just inside the blue line above the Stanley Cup Finals logo.
He placed a soft pass on Danny Briere's stick at the top of the left circle. Briere fired a shot on net from there and Hawks goalie Antti Niemi stopped it, but the rebound trickled out in front where Scott Hartnell, providing net presence, shoveled it five-hole for his 7th goal of the playoffs.

A minute into the 2nd period, Marian Hossa turned the puck over at center ice to Simon Gagne.
He was in all alone on a breakaway, with Brent Seabrook the only one in the zone fast enough to come within a stick length of him.
From in between the hash marks Gagne tried going blocker side on Niemi. But he said no.

The Hawks had another good chance about 4 minutes in as a power play for them expired.
Brian Campbell led the rush out of their own zone and from the blue line, sent a pass over to Dave Bolland just to the left of the neutral zone faceoff dot closest to the Hawk bench.
Bolland gave the puck to Andrew Ladd, who was breaking into the zone.
Ladd beat all of the Philly backcheckers and from the slot and close in range, he turned to his backhand and tried to slip it past Leighton's left pad, but his shot went totally past the right post.

The Flyers took their first lead of the night at 8:00 of the period.
At the Hawks' blue line, Hartnell stuck his skate out and subtly tripped Duncan Keith, and it went undetected.
This opened up a lane for Ville Leino to enter the zone and he got into the slot where he dished the puck over to Briere in the left part of the bottom of the right circle, where he caught Niemi sliding over in his crease and he put the puck past him, glove side.

Remember in the regular season when the Hawks scored a lot 4 on 4? and that's where they made their money, more or less?

Well that came in handy.
A minute and 58 seconds after the Briere goal, with Braydon Coburn in the box for cross checking, and Hossa in the box for a horribly soft goaltender interference call, the Sharp Shooter answered the call.
Keith brought the puck into the zone, 3 on 3, down the left side.
He gave the puck to Bolland at the top of the circles and Bolland backhanded a pass over to Patrick Sharp in the right circle.
Sharp shot it and it beat Leighton five-hole for his 11th goal of the post season, tied with Byfuglien for the most on the team.

The Hawks took back their lead with just over 2 minutes left in the period.
Kane had the puck on the right side of the SCF logo and gave it to Niklas Hjalmarsson on the other side of it.
Hjalmarsson walked in to the top of the left circle and bombed one on net as he had an open lane.
His shot was going to be about 2 feet wide, but Ladd was there out in front and beautifully redirected it and it beat Leighton under his blockered arm, or 7 hole as Tripp Tracy calls it.


For the longest time, it looked like Ladd's goal was going to hold up as the game winner.
But no, the Flyers came back and tied it at 16:01 of the 3rd as the Hawks sat on their lead for the whole period.
Leino came into the Hawks' zone down the right wing boards and from below the goal line, sent a centering pass out in front.
It bounced off of Hossa's skate and it hit Hartnell's stick as he found himself surrounded by 3 Hawks in front of Niemi.
It trickled past Niemi's right toe before he could get over just a tiny bit more.

Needless to say, the Hartnell-Briere-Leino line caused the Hawks problems all series long.

Niemi made a gigantic save with 90 seconds left in the third.
Mike Richards won a board battle against Hjalmarsson in the right corner below the goal line and was able to give the puck to Claude Giroux in the right circle.
He found Jeff Carter at the opposite side of the net and gave it to him.
He backed up to just inside the left circle because he had to maneuver around Campbell.
Niemi was already on his stomach, and Carter fired it on net but Niemi was able to stop it point blank and have Kris Versteeg pick up the rebound to clear it.

 To Overtime we go.

Keith just about gave everyone a heart attack as he went to clear the zone and hit Richards' stick 13 seconds into the extra session.
Niemi came out of his net to clear it and he went to do so off of the glass in the left corner.
Problem was, it hit the glass and just died and fell right to Richards.
His centering pass to the front of the net hit Keith's stick, but it bounced over it and went right to Giroux just under the right hash marks.
Giroux shot it and Niemi blocked it down with his glove and covered up for the whistle.

With 16:01 left, Campbell corralled a clearing attempt at the left point of the Flyers' zone. He gave the puck to Kane at the left halfwall.
Kane did a couple of head-fakes to Kimmo Timonen, and walked down the left wing boards to below the left circle.
Kane just put the puck on net and..and at 4:06 it beat Leighton five-hole as he hugged the right post.
The puck got stuck under the net by the left post.

Kane was the only one who knew it went in. And Sharp. [It was a Patrick thing.]
Nick Boynton saw it go in, too, I think.
He came around behind the net, and everyone thought it had gone into the corner but couldn't find the puck. And that's where we all thought he was going.
But his stick was up, and Sharp's went up, and Boynton's did for a split second, too.
Just before the blue line, Kane threw his gloves in the air and then the Hawks' bench jumped up and over and rushed to follow Kane down the ice as he went to go celebrate with Niemi.
Sharp and Ladd were right on his tail and jumped into them just above Niemi's crease.

The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.
The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup!

Even almost a week later, personally, it still doesn't seem real.
But it is.
They did it.
49 years.
Done. Over with.
They're 2010 Stanley Cup Champions.

"I was the only one who knew it went in," Kane told the NHL Network. "I just had to celebrate even more so everyone knew it was in.
"We had a great group. It was the best group to be with and I don't know right now, it's just pretty crazy."

After 2 straight years of being to the Finals and losing, Hossa finally got his Stanley Cup.
"This is what a relief," He told CBC. "After 2 years [of] not winning and finally 3rd time win the Stanley Cup, I'm so happy."
You could just see those emotions on his face.

On if he saw the goal, Seabrook said to Scott Oake, "Absolutely not. I don't know what was going on. Kaner was skating around, there was no red light on, no horn, no nothing, I don't know, I had no idea, obviously we're in Philly so there'd be no horn but it was a crazy feeling. It was a weird feeling and we're excited it's over."

Ladd didn't either and he was on the ice. He told Chris Boden of Comcast Sportsnet that he had no clue that it went in. He said that he just, "Chased his mullet down the rink."

"I believed in [Kane]," Toews told the media. "I don't think he would throw his gloves off like that if he wasn't 100% sure and he sold it pretty good if the puck didn't go in. It was kinda an awkward celebration. We didn't know what to do. We were all standing around, waiting for the official call. But it didn't matter how it happened, how it went in, we're all proud of Kaner for stepping up like that. It's a pretty awesome feeling."

"[We just said in the room that] somebody had to be a hero," Campbell told CBC. "That's the biggest thing. Somebody had to be a hero and we knew. That's how we play. We play exciting hockey for everybody."

"I really thought this team had a chance to win it [at the start of the year]," Adam Burish told Oake, "You can't describe when you hold that Cup over your heard. The feeling that you get is indescribable. It's better than any vacation I've been on, better than anything cool I've ever done, better than kissing the prettiest girl in school. That was as good as it gets."

"I wish I had some [thoughts]," Sharp told Oake. "Give the Flyers credit, they kept coming back and they made it tough on us. When Kaner put that one in, there's no better feeling."

"It was tough, they battled all series long," Ben Eager said on CBC. "They have a great team. We got a lucky bounce at the end and it's a great feeling.
"We knew we had a deep team coming into the season, you know, [the 4th line] contributed, everyone did all year long. We brought that into the playoffs and we played a great team game throughout the playoffs and we got rewarded."

"[We] definitely would've liked [to have won] in regulation but I think that speaks to the way this team plays and how we always come back from tough situations and we didn't really let it get to us when we headed into overtime and Kaner had a big goal," Ladd told CBC.
He also talked about his time here in Chicago and how much more of an impact he had this time around than he did in his other Cup win in Carolina.
"It was fun, just being here the last 2 1/2 years and really getting to know this group, a great bunch of guys. We get along so good off the ice that it just makes it that much more special and to be a big part of what we did here, I'm speechless."

Bolland told Oake about coming back from his back injury.
"It was tough. 3 months, doing nothing, just sitting around, hanging out, not doing much. It was tough for me when I got back. It still took me a few steps and everything to get back to my game and I think once the playoffs came my game came back to how it was last year."

The order the Cup was handed off for the first couple of guys was: Toews [obviously], Hossa, Sharp, Brent Sopel, John Madden, Keith, Seabrook, Bolland, Boynton, Campbell, Ladd, Tomas Kopecky, Eager, Byfuglien, Kane, Versteeg, Hjalmarsson, Burish, Niemi, Troy Brouwer, Cristobal Huet and then NBC cut away so I have no clue what the rest of the order was.

Toews talked about handing the Cup off to Hossa after he accepted it from the Commissioner.
"We talked about it very, very briefly this morning. Didn't wanna get over excited or think too much of the end result but mentioned it to him this morning to be ready if we did happen to hoist it tonight. Duncan and Sharpie both agreed that he should be the 1st guy after myself to grab it.
"It's special for him. I can't imagine being a part of 3 long seasons like that. To win one finally, it's amazing for all of us but especially him, for sure."

Notes

•The Hawks outshot the Flyers 41-24.
-The Hawks' power play went 1-5; the Flyers' went 1-4.
-The Flyers took 34 faceoffs. The Hawks took 32.
•The Hawks' scratches were the same.
•The Hawks' centermen's faceoff percentages:
-Patrick Sharp: 64.3%
-Jonathan Toews: 64%
-Dave Bolland: 37.5%
-John Madden: 11.1%
Antti Niemi is the first Finnish goaltender to win the Stanley Cup.
Jonathan Toews won the Conn Smythe for playoff MVP.
Jonathan Toews' 22 assists led the league. His 29 points were 2nd. His 5 power play goals were first. His 3 game winning goals were 3rd and his 58 shots were 10th.
-Marian Hossa's 12 assists were 9th. His 25 penalty minutes were ranked 9th and his 73 shots were second.
-Patrick Sharp's 11 goals were tied for the team lead and were 3rd in the league. His 22 points were 5th and his +/- rating of +10 was 3rd. His 3 power play goals were 10th and his 76 shots led the league. Also, he was a point per game [22 points, 22 games].
-Patrick Kane's 10 goals were 5th, his 18 assists were 2nd, and his 28 points were 3rd. His 64 shots were 5th.
-Dustin Byfuglien's 11 goals were tied for the team lead and were 3rd in the league, also. His 5 power play goals were tied for first and his 5 game winning goals paced the league as well.
-Dave Bolland's 8 goals were 10th. His 30 penalty minutes were 5th and his 2 shorthanded goals led the league.
 -Kris Versteeg's 2 game winning goals were 7th.
-Duncan Keith's 15 assists were 5th and his 61 shots were 7th.
-Brent Seabrook's +/- rating of +8 was 9th.
-Brian Campbell's +/- rating of +11 was tied for 1st.
-Niklas Hjalmarsson's +/- rating of +9 was 5th.
Ben Eager only had 2 minutes of ice time. :/
Dustin Byfuglien had 6 hits.
-Brent Seabrook had 4 hits.
Duncan Keith led the team in ice time with 30:39 of it.
Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa, and Jonathan Toews led the team in shots with 5.

Post Game Interviews

Adam Burish on CBC

Brian Campbell on CBC
 

Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland on CBC

Toews on CBC

Brent Seabrook on CBC
 
 
 
Bobby Hull on CBC

 
 
 
 
 

Game Highlights 

 
Other Links

CBC's Toast to the Playoffs
Locker Room Celebration

History Is Made
Parade Stuff
 
 
Exit Interviews 

 
John Madden
Patrick Sharp
 
Coach Q   
 
Stan Bowman    


Dustin Byfuglien celebrates his power play goal with Patrick Sharp.


Patrick Sharp celebrates his goal in the 2nd period with Brent Seabrook.


Patrick Kane jumps into Andrew Ladd's arms after Ladd scored late in the 2nd.

 
Patrick Kane, Antti Niemi, Patrick Sharp, and Andrew Ladd celebrate Kane's Stanley Cup winning goal in overtime.


Jonathan Toews hoists the Stanley Cup.
 

The Hawks take the team picture with the Cup.
Brent Seabrook on CBC

Kane on CBC

Hossa on CBC

Bobby Hull on CBC

Troy Brouwer on CBC

Ben Eager on CBC

Andrew Ladd on CBC

Toews Press Conference
Duncan Keith on CBC

Brent Sopel on CBC

John Madden and his kids on CBC

Tomas Kopecky on NHLN

Kaner's Dad

Pat Foley

Coach Q Press Conference
Game Highlights

Other Links

CBC's Toast to the Playoffs

Locker Room Celebration
History Is Made

Parade Stuff

Wrigley Stuff

Cabbie's Post Game Show

Exit Interviews

John Madden

Patrick Sharp

Brent Seabrook

Coach Q

Stan Bowman 



Dustin Byfuglien celebrates his power play goal with Patrick Sharp.



Patrick Sharp celebrates his goal in the 2nd period with Brent Seabrook.



Patrick Kane jumps into Andrew Ladd's arms after Ladd scored late in the 2nd.



Patrick Kane, Antti Niemi, Patrick Sharp, and Andrew Ladd celebrate Kane's Stanley Cup winning goal in overtime.



Jonathan Toews hoists the Stanley Cup.



The Hawks take the team picture with the Cup.

Brent Seabrook on CBC

Kane on CBC

Hossa on CBC

Bobby Hull on CBC

Troy Brouwer on CBC

Ben Eager on CBC

Andrew Ladd on CBC

Toews Press Conference
Duncan Keith on CBC

Brent Sopel on CBC

John Madden and his kids on CBC

Tomas Kopecky on NHLN

Kaner's Dad

Pat Foley

Coach Q Press Conference
Game Highlights

Other Links

CBC's Toast to the Playoffs

Locker Room Celebration
History Is Made

Parade Stuff

Wrigley Stuff

Cabbie's Post Game Show

Exit Interviews

John Madden

Patrick Sharp

Brent Seabrook

Coach Q

Stan Bowman 



Dustin Byfuglien celebrates his power play goal with Patrick Sharp.



Patrick Sharp celebrates his goal in the 2nd period with Brent Seabrook.



Patrick Kane jumps into Andrew Ladd's arms after Ladd scored late in the 2nd.



Patrick Kane, Antti Niemi, Patrick Sharp, and Andrew Ladd celebrate Kane's Stanley Cup winning goal in overtime.



Jonathan Toews hoists the Stanley Cup.



The Hawks take the team picture with the Cup.