Friday, April 22, 2011

Hawks' Big Guns Step Up in Vital Game 5

Chicago Blackhawks @ Vancouver Canucks
 Game 5-Round 1-Western Conference Quarterfinals
4-21-11
Final Score: 5-0 Hawks
Scoring Summary
1st Period
5:54-CHI-PPG-Marian Hossa [1] (Duncan Keith [1], Corey Crawford [2])
6:18-CHI-Duncan Keith [3] (Ryan Johnson [1], Marcus Kruger [1])
12:17-CHI-PPG-Patrick Kane [1] (Keith [2], Brian Campbell [2])
2nd Period
1:26-CHI-Marian Hossa [2] (Patrick Sharp [1], Bryan Bickell [2])
4:47-CHI-Duncan Keith [4] (Hossa [2], Sharp [2])
3rd Period
None 

The Hawks rolled into Vancouver Thursday night for Game 5 carrying all the momentum after their 7-2 win in Game 4 that allowed them to stay alive in their first round series against the Canucks in which they were trailing 3-0.

They were looking to have a quick start Thursday, and they did just that.
Just about 6 minutes in, and on their first power play of the night, Marian Hossa got his 4th career playoff goal in the Indian Head sweater to give the Hawks the 1-0 lead.
Hossa carried the puck through the neutral zone and into Vancouver's zone fairly easily as he maneuvered around Canuck penalty killers.  He found himself in between the tops of the circles and let let one of his wicked wrist shots fly and it beat Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo glove side.

24 seconds later, the Hawks struck again. This time it was Norris Trophy winning defenseman Duncan Keith getting his third goal of the series and extending his goal streak to 3 games.
Rookie Marcus Kruger had taken a shot on net from below the right circle and Luongo sent a rebound into the slot where former Canuck Ryan Johnson picked it up. Johnson was in the left circle when he dished a pass over to Keith, who was just inside the blue line at the left point. Keith bombed a shot and it beat Luongo up high.

With Alex Edler in the box for holding at 10:49 of the first, the Hawks found themselves on their second power play of the period and they made it count.
Patrick Kane registered his first goal of the series as he tipped home Keith's shot from in between the hash marks. Captain Jonathan Toews was providing the screen out in front.

The Hawks had a great chance to extend their lead to 4-0 with around three and a half minutes left in the period after Hossa sprung Patrick Sharp on a clear cut breakaway. He tried to go glove side on Luongo, but he stopped him. 

1:26 into the second, Hossa did give the Hawks their 4 goal lead with his second goal of the night.
Sharp was the one who sent Hossa away on a breakaway and Hossa was sure not to miss. From the slot, he went high glove side on Luongo again. There was plenty of open space up there because Luongo was keeping his glove low and close to his body.
 That also ended Luongo's night and backup goaltender Cory Schneider came in to replace him. Schneider also replaced Luongo in the third period of Game 4.

A little over three minutes later, Keith also scored his second goal on the night.
Sharp had brought the puck into the zone and from the left wing boards, sent a cross ice pass over to Hossa at the right halfwall. Hossa touched passed it to Keith just above the top of the right circle and he bombed it. Ben Smith provided the traffic out in front and the shot found its way in for a 5-0 lead.

The Canucks had a good scoring chance with 12:56 left in the second after Dan Hamhuis' shot from just inside the blue line hit some traffic in front and Henrik Sedin got the loose puck and put it on net. Hawks rookie goaltender Corey Crawford made the save and it bounced around some, but Crawford was able to spot the puck and cover it up as John Scott cleared Alex Burrows out of the crease.
Early in the third, Crawford made a big save point blank on Cody Hodgson. Hodgson was left alone out in front by the Hawks' defensemen and his one time shot was swallowed up by Crawford.

Sharp had a chance to redeem himself from his previous breakaway with a shorthanded one with under 13 minutes to go in the third period. Smith provided the pass and Sharp was in all alone again. He tried doing his normal breakaway move, backhand to the forehand and go glove side, but Schneider stoned him with the left pad.

The Hawks were able to hold on and preserve Crawford's shutout as they closed the series gap to 3-2 and forced a Game 6 on Sunday at the United Center.

"Awesome, awesome game for [Crawford]," Kane told chicagoblackhawks.com about his goalie's 36 save performance, "We didn't really give him much help in the third period for him to get that shutout and he made a lot of big saves for himself."

"We built a lot of momentum the last game," Crawford said to the media after the game, "We played so great and it kind of just carried over for tonight. We were solid, we were hard in all areas, [we made] solid plays getting pucks out, pucks in at the blue lines and making those smart plays.
"And our guys are so skilled and we took advantage of our opportunities."

The Hawks are still going to take the series a game at a time and right now are just looking forward to Game 6.

"Let's face it," Keith said, "We're not out of the woods yet. It's still a battle and they've got a great team on that side. We know we've had a couple of big wins here. We know they're a tough team to play against and we gotta respect that."

"We're looking [forward to] next game," Crawford added, "That's all our focus is on is to come out hard again and have our best game again."

Kane was asked if all the pressure is on Vancouver for Game 6 and he replied with, "I think so, yeah. You gotta feel that way. Especially with them being up 3-0 in the series and now it's 3-2 [and] we're going back home. It seems like all the pressure's on them to win again and we're trying to make history here. We'll take it one game at a time like we said, but it's nice to get two in a row here and put ourselves back in the series."

"We knew they were gonna come out strong after last game," Scott said, "but we were ready for them and we played our game. If we keep doing that, I think we'll have more success."

"We're trying to win a series," Brian Campbell also told chicagoblackhawks.com, "We haven't done ourselves any justice by putting ourselves here now. We'll try to make this comeback and we'll work hard to try and do it and [we'll] see where it goes."

Said Crawford:  "We'll just keep battling hard until there's a winner."

Notes
•The Hawks' 5-0 win was the largest margin of victory in a playoff shutout in franchise history.
Corey Crawford has 2 assists in the series. He is tied with Murray Bannerman for most assists by a goalie in a single post season in franchise history. Bannerman did it in 1985.
•The Canucks outshot the Hawks 36-26.
-The Hawks' power play went 2-5 and the Canucks' went 0-4.
-Both teams won 26 faceoffs.
•The Hawks' centermen's faceoff percentages were:
-Ryan Johnson: 60%
-Jonathan Toews: 53.3%
-Dave Bolland: 51.7%
-Patrick Sharp: 50%
Brian Campbell led the Hawks in ice time with 26:20 and in shifts with 40.
Bryan Bickell led the team in hits with 4.
Duncan Keith led the team with 8 shots on goal. His four points [2G, 2A] were also a career high for him in one game in the playoffs.
Niklas Hjalmarsson had a team high 4 blocked shots.
Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith each had 2 takeaways.
•The Hawks' scratches were:
-Jordan Hendry [torn ACL]
-Brent Seabrook [upper body]
-Tomas Kopecky [upper body]
-Jake Dowell [healthy scratch]
-Fernando Pisani [healthy scratch]
•The three stars of the game were:
1. Duncan Keith
2. Marian Hossa
3. Corey Crawford
Patrick Kane's four assists are 5th in the league and he is 9th in scoring [1G, 4A].
-Duncan Keith's 4 goals are second and his 6 points [4G, 2A] are 4th.
-Patrick Sharp's 3 goals are 6th in the league and his 5 points [3G, 2A] are 9th in the league in scoring as well.
-Bryan Bickell, Dave Bolland, and Chris Campoli are all tied for 5th in the league in +/- ratings with a +4.
-Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, and Patrick Kane all have one power play goal which is tied for 10th.
-Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith also have one game winning goal which is tied for second.
-Duncan Keith leads the league in shots on goal with 22 and Patrick Sharp is 2nd with 20.
-Ben Smith's shot percentage [66.7%] is second in the league.
•The Hawks' next game is on Sunday at the United Center at 6:30 p.m. on Comcast Sportsnet and Versus.

Post Game Interviews
Boxscore  

Marian Hossa celebrates his first goal with Brian Campbell.

Duncan Keith celebrates his first goal with Ryan Johnson, Troy Brouwer, and Nick Leddy.

Patrick Sharp hugs Patrick Kane after Kane scored to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead in the first period.

Nick Leddy congratulates Corey Crawford after the game on his 36 save shutout.

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