Game 2 of the Western Conference Final required three overtimes, but the Chicago Blackhawks evened up the series at one apiece heading back to the United Center against the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 3-2. Marcus Kruger was the hero in the longest game in Blackhawks history with his first overtime goal (regular season or postseason) of his career 16:12 into the third OT.
After losing 4-1 to the Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, there was little panic in the Chicago Blackhawks locker room. Since 2009 (when head coach Joel Quenneville took over), the Blackhawks have lost the first game of a playoff series seven times. Of those seven, the Hawks ended up victorious in four of them. That includes last year’s Western Conference Quarterfinal, when they lost the first two games of the series against the St. Louis Blues, but answered with four straight wins to advance to the next round.
GAME TWO
Chicago attacked the offensive zone early after the opening puck drop, which forced Ducks forward Patrick Maroon into taking a penalty 1:46 into the hockey game. They were 0-3 with the man-advantage in Game 1, but the Hawks drew first blood when Duncan Keith’s point shot was re-directed by Andrew Shaw just over two minutes into the first period. Keith’s shot was sent toward the glove of Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen, but Shaw tipped it through the wickets of the Danish netminder, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
The home team was back on the penalty kill when Clayton Stoner cross-checked Kruger into the boards at 5:15. On the ensuing PP, Brad Richards took a shot from the top of the right circle that trickled behind the right pad of Andersen and into the blue crease. Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa was able to get his stick on it before Ducks d-man Simon Despres inadvertently knocked it past the goal-line and into the net.
On their first two power play opportunities, the Hawks were a perfect 2-2 before seven minutes had gone by in the second game of this series. Both goals marked Shaw and Hossa’s second goals of the postseason. The usually jubilant Honda Center had been silenced, but not for long.
Less than three minutes after Hossa’s tally, Andrew Cogliano’s right skate brought southern California to its feet. Nate Thompson tossed the puck towards the front of the net with several players skating on in, when Cogliano deflected it in for his third goal of the postseason. The third line of Anaheim, which is made up of Cogliano, Thompson and Kyle Palmieri, all had goals in the first 69 minutes of this series.
More importantly, Chicago’s lead was cut in half.
Anaheim was now in total control of the affair, putting pressure on the Hawks with all four forward lines rolling. The Ducks failed to equalize the contest, despite the zone time they had in the late stages of the first period. After 20 minutes, the Blackhawks maintained a 2-1 lead in Game 2.
The first half of the second period was a defensive stalemate for the most part. Both teams failed to gain entry into the opposition’s side of the ice as the defenses did a terrific job of keeping the puck away from high-percentage scoring areas. On the few opportunities generated offensively, the men in between the pipes were fit to the task.
Andersen denied Kruger on a tip-in chance then bobbled Shaw’s easy attempt on goal from the boards, but kept it out. Anaheim opened up space for their forwards as the play went on, but Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford was solid for the visitors in the second frame.
Crawford rejected Hampus Lindholm with a quick left pad save after the young blueliner found room. He then made a sprawling right pad save on Emerson Etem to preserve his team’s lead 11:34 in. Soon after, Patrick Sharp took a tripping penalty at 11:59 to send Anaheim to the man-advantage for the first time on the night, but the Hawks bailed him out.
Anaheim was able to capitalize on the Hawks miscues in their own zone which allowed Sami Vatanen to send the puck across to captain Ryan Getzlaf, who ripped a snapshot from the side boards. Corey Perry then got his stick on it and directed it past Crawford’s left side for his eighth goal of the playoffs with 2:30 remaining in the second period. It was the Peterborough, Ontario native’s 30th career postseason goal and tied Tampa Bay Lightning forward Tyler Johnson for the scoring lead in the 2015 playoffs with 16 points.
At the end of forty minutes, Anaheim and Chicago went into their respective locker rooms knotted up at two goals a piece. The Ducks outshot the Hawks 19-7 in the second frame.
With Jakob Silfverberg already serving an interference minor to start the third, Getzlaf was sent to the box for tripping 26 seconds into the period. This gave the Hawks a 5-on-3 advantage for just over a minute, but Chicago registered a mere one shot on goal.
The Blackhawks had a brief scare when they took a bench minor for too many men on the ice, but they killed off the ensuing penalty. Although this appeared to give Chicago momentum for a few shifts, Anaheim continued to dictate the action. With ten-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation, the Blackhawks had a flurry of chances including a Kruger wraparound, but Andersen stood tall.
Johnny Oduya blasted one from the point off of Andersen’s chest, which created a rebound for Shaw, who was one of the best Blackhawks forwards in Game 2. However, Andersen again made the save on the rebound. Chicago was playing with the most urgency they’ve had since the first period of Game 1, but the game remain tied.
Kruger took a holding penalty two hundred feet away from the net with 4:47 left in regulation, but Anaheim’s league-leading power play lacked proper zone time and failed to generate a goal to break the tie. The Blackhawks were a perfect 4-for-4 through regulation on the penalty kill. Perhaps the most interesting factoid of the third period was the ice-time of the Hawks third pairing: Kyle Cumiskey played a staggeringly low 57 seconds in the third period and Kimmon Timonen only played 1:52.
The green light went off, the horn sounded, but the game was still tied at the end of sixty minutes.
Overtime playoff hockey is a spectacle that provides some of the greatest theatrics in all of the sport: point-blank saves, timely defensive efforts, and game-ending goals.
Saad and Seabrook had chances early in the fourth period, but failed to hit the net with both of them. Despres had two shots from the point, but couldn’t beat Crawford. With nine minutes left in the first overtime, Teuvo Teravainen and Sharp had a 2-on-1 opportunity but Andersen made the blocker save look easy. At the other end, Perry finessed a move to the outside and struck the goalpost just above Crawford’s glove.
Etem drew a penalty after he was tripped by Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Vatanen rang one off the crossbar on the following powerplay 10:41 into the overtime period. Anaheim maintained possession in the Hawks zone, but Chicago was able to kill it off successfully.
The overall tone of the overtime period was sporadic with back-and-forth throughout, but fluidity through the neutral zone was non-apparent. Fatigue hadn’t set in yet, even for the Blackhawks, who were mainly playing four defensemen (Keith, Seabrook, Oduya, Hjalmarsson) on the ice.
Patrick Kane, who only had two shots in the first 100 minutes of the series, flew down the right side into the offensive zone after he stripped it from Lindholm but Andersen flashed the leather to deny #88 of his first goal of the series. The first overtime period didn’t solve anything as the score remained 2-2. Anaheim led the shots through eighty minutes, 43-36.
In the early minutes of the second overtime, Shaw was left wide-open in front of Andersen as Getzlaf failed to back-check after Kruger sauced a pass across from the right circle. Shaw failed to even up the series when Andersen closed the pads to deny the Belleville native. Bryan Bickell, who has zero goals this postseason, had a partial break but couldn’t lift the puck over Andersen’s right shoulder.
Vatanen hit the crossbar again on an open chance from the right point, but Chicago would get the best chance of the fifth period when they were sent to the powerplay due to Anaheim’s too many men on the ice blunder 8:11 into the second OT. After Kane drove to the side of the net off the next face-off, he shot it towards Andersen, who blocked it up into the air. Enter Shaw to HEADBUTT the puck past Andersen and into the net.
The Blackhawks celebrated, the Ducks argued; it was absolute chaos at the Honda Center.
According to Rule 78.5, the goal was disallowed after the officials got together to review it because Shaw convincingly directed the puck with his helmet. So they played on. Perry got a nice backhand feed from Patrick Maroon in the high slot, but Crawford just got enough of it with his glove 11:52 in. Palmieri had a chance with just over six minutes left, but was stopped by the blocker of Crawford.
Both teams had unbelievable efforts in hopes of ending this game, but the beauty of hockey lies in its unpredictability.
Antoine Vermette got a slick pass from Kane in front of the net with under a minute to go in the second overtime, but Andersen got the left pad on the attempt as Vermette failed to elevate it by the 25-year-old goaltender.
Two overtimes down, but no victor had been decided. Shots were 57-50 in favor of Anaheim.
Maroon had a pair of chances in the first minute of the third overtime, but Crawford fought off both of them. Vermette dished a pass to Teravainen but Andersen’s glove answered the bell on the Finnish forward’s shot from the left circle.
Chances from both ends ensued, but the usual theme from the past two overtimes stuck to its script. This was the case until Seabrook’s shot from the right point was initially blocked by the shaft of Andersen’s goalstick, but Kruger buried the OT winner on the rebound on the Blackhawks 56th shot of the night. The winning goaltender, Crawford, made 60 saves. When it was all said and done, the visitors left the Honda Center with their heads high, victorious by the score of 3-2.
Game over. Series tied.
Game 3 will take place in the United Center on Thursday night.
