The theme in the Western Conference last night, tie the series up.
That theme got started the evening at the Madhouse on Madison, or the United Center for non Blackhawk fans.
The first period got underway to much fanfare, and an energy that this was a must win game was throughout the building. Trading penalties and shots, neither team could find the back of the net.
That changed during a frenzy of a second period.
Andrew Shaw broke open the scoring as he backhanded his power play goal past Blues goalie Ryan Miller. The PPG was just the second of the post season, as the Blackhawks are just 2/14 on the PP this postseason.
The Blackhawks would keep the pressure on Miller, until finally Patrick Kane beat Miller with a onetimer that he never had a chance to stop.
The 2-0 lead; however, was short lived. After Patrick Kane took a penalty for putting the puck in the crowd, momentum would swing into the Blues favor.
Vladimir Tarasenko would take full advantage of the Blues PP, and his wrister would make it 2-1. With the seconds closing down on the second period, the Blackhawks tried but failed to clear the puck from their zone. With 3.1 seconds left, Maxim Lapierre, beat Corey Crawford, and had the score all tied at two heading into the final period.
The final period was as tense as it was at the beginning of the game. Knowing a loss would essentially put the Blackhawks out of the postseason, the team rallied and broke the tie halfway through the period.
Vladimir Tarasenko found the puck for his second goal of the night, halfway through the second period. Giving the Blues the 3-2 lead, nearly sucked all the energy out of the Madhouse.
Bryan Bickell, who nearly scored in the first but his show went off the post, found the puck in the final five minutes for a tip-in past Miller, to tie the game and essentially got the crowd back into the game.
Another overtime game for this series is just what the fans ordered.
Crawford would only have to make two saves in overtime, as it was all Chicago.
Patrick Kane would lead the odd man rush up the ice, and at 11:17 mark, his wrist shot would end the game. Miller never stood against against that deadly snipe.
“We kind of have the momentum now,” Kane said. “We know it’s going to be a tough game in Game 5 in their building. They’re going to be fired up and that’s always a tough place to play, pre-season, regular season or playoffs. So, we’ll expect them to get better and we’ll get better too.”
Game 5 is set for Friday night 8pm EST NBCSN/CBC
To keep the comeback trend going, the Dallas Stars looked to tied their series at two against the best in the west Anaheim Ducks.
The Ducks showed up ready to play, and dominated the entire first period.
Bryan Allen fired a slapshot by Kari Lehtonen half way through the opening period, giving the Ducks the 1-0 early advantage.
Not too long later, Patrick Maroon deflected Mathieu Perreault’s shot for his first goal of the postseason.
Going down 2-0 after the first period, the Dallas Stars had their backs against the wall.
It didn’t take long for the Stars to get things going. Just 27 seconds, and off the opening draw, Jamie Benn gained the zone and fired a wrist shot past Frederik Andersen to get the Stars on the board.
Five minutes later Vernon Fiddler, tied the game at two with his wrist shot.
“After the second goal, I certainly did [think about pulling Andersen],” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said.
The Stars would take all momentum into the third period.
Just five minutes into the period, Cody Eakin snapped his shot past Andersen, to give the Stars their first lead of the night.
A little over a minute later, Alex Goligoski continued the scoring trend, and Andersen’s night was done.
“After they scored their second goal, I told [Hiller] to get ready because I didn’t think [Andersen] was that sharp. In the third period when they got that goal [by Goligoski], I just thought it was time.” Said Duck coach Bruce Boudreau.
Jonas Hiller would come in, and serve the backup duties. He’d face one shot in his final 10 minutes on the ice.
“I really feel like we’re in a playoff series now,” Ruff said. “The first couple of games didn’t feel like it, but now we feel like we have a playoff series.”
At the end of the game things got chippy between both teams, and a plethora of penalties were called as time expired. The rest of this series should be fun to watch.
Game 5 is set for Friday in Anaheim at 10:30pm EST NBCSN/RDS2
photo credit: getty images gif:sohockeyeh
