Emotions were high at the UC on Monday night to say the least. After Jim Cornelison’s rendition of the national anthem, during which the entire stadium yelled at the top of their lungs like they do at every home game, the Chicago Blackhawks took the ice in Game 6 of their series against the Vancouver Canucks. Even though the Hawks were up 3-2 in the series, there was a strong feeling in the stadium that this was a do-or-die game. In what has been a very rough, bang-up series, the Blackhawks had finally taken the series lead after winning two games in a row, including game 5 in Vancouver. Nevertheless, Blackhawks fans had the feeling that if they could not close out the series at home, going back to Vancouver for a game 7 would only bring heartbreak. Turns out their worries need not to have existed. Patrick Kane led the Blackhawks to a thrilling 7-5 win to clinch the series.
 

After falling down 1-0 again on a Mason Raymond goal the Blackhawks found themselves in a similar position of being down early in the game. In five of the six games this series, the Canucks were the team to score first. But, the young Hawks team has been great at coming from behind and getting the comeback win. Within two minutes Patrick Kane scored his first of three goals to tie the score at one, which would remain the score after one period.

The second period started off slow until Rick Rypien got called for interference against Ben Eager 2:15 into the period. Kris Versteeg made that penalty a costly one when he netted a snap shot past Luongo almost four minutes in. Six minutes later, Jonathan Toews made the score 3-1 by following up his own shot and pushing the puck past Luongo. That lead was short lived though when Daniel Sedin scored his first goal of the night only 52 seconds later. Then, about four minutes later, Shane O’Brien put a great shot past a screened Khabibulin to tie the game up.

By the end of the second period the crowd at the United Center was restless and uneasy. The momentum seemed to be swinging toward Vancouver and the Hawks were looking listless ending the second. It seemed as though every Blackhawk pass was misplayed, and the Canucks were capitalizing on the sloppy puck handling. Then, when Mats Sundin gave the Canucks a 4-3 lead just under four minutes into the third, things started to look bad. Sundin scored one second after a power play ended for the Canucks because the Blackhawks had too many men on the ice.

The Hawks started their come from behind attack, though, with some good chances which culminated in a Patrick Sharp pass to Adam Burish for a one-time goal. Vancouver and Chicago both wasted power play opportunities and the game was a stalemate past the halfway mark of the third. It was not until Daniel Sedin scored on a little hesitation move that another goal came.

With the Hawks down 5-4 it was time for the young stars on the Hawks to grow up and play like men. Kane scored 45 seconds after Sedin’s goal, and Toews scored 49 seconds after that to send the crowd into an absolute frenzy. Just over a minute after Toews’ goal, Patrick Kane finished off his hat trick giving the Hawks a 7-5 edge with only 3:43 left in the game. After a short delay to clean up the hats and towels thrown onto the ice, the Hawks finished up the game to raucous cheers and “Detroit Su--s” chants.

Chicago advanced to its first Conference Finals for the first time since 1995 when they lost to the Red Wings. The young Hawks squad now enjoys some rest as they eagerly await the outcome of the Detroit-Anaheim series. Regardless of who wins that bout, the Hawks will undoubtedly face their toughest challenge yet. However, in this season of a return to glory for Chicago hockey, it would only be fitting to see an Original Six matchup.

Game notes: Roberto Luongo gave up 7 goals in a game for the first time since January 4th, 2000, his 10th career game…Kane recorded his first career play-off hat trick…Toews scored for the first time in nine games…Canucks outshot Hawks 38-30.
 

 

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