Blackhawks Win In Shootout, Lock Up Sixth Seed
For 59 minutes, the Blackhawks appeared to be headed to a first round series against division rivals from Nashville. But a last-minute goal for the Red Wings pushed the game into overtime – and the Hawks into sixth place – before Patrick Kane undressed Jimmy Howard for the shootout winner.
The scripts for most of regulation time was typical for this year’s Blackhawks. Chicago’s two goals came from secondary players, Viktor Stalberg and Andrew Shaw, and they weren’t able to keep their opponent off the scoreboard.
Despite reaching the 100-point plateau and being just seconds away from a fifth place finish in the Western Conference, the Blackhawks finished the regular season without a shutout.
However, Corey Crawford finished the regular-season with an 8-1-2 record, 1.85 GAA and a .921 save percentage (232-of-252) over his final 11 appearances. He was outstanding the entire game on Saturday, including against all three Detroit attempts in the shootout.
Patrick Sharp added two assists in the game, giving him 69 points (33 goals, 36 assists) in 74 games this season. Stalberg’s goal was his 22nd of the season, and Shaw finished the campaign with 12 goals and 23 points in only 37 games.
Chicago will face the Pacific Division champion in the first round of the playoffs, which begin Wednesday.
The Hawks would have won the game if it wasn’t for the refs. They had a goal that crossed the line rght after the whistle apparently blew. Stally pushed it through Howard’s pads. Refs have been screwing them over all year. No excuse though Hawks should have held out that last minute, but to be quite honest I would rather play a Pacific team then Nashville. Best moment was Kane’s winner. Datsuyk tried the same move right before and Crow stopped it. Then Kane pulled off the same move. Thats how you get it done Datsuyk, but then again Kane is superman ;). Wish Kane would have pointed at the Wing’s bench at Datsuyk. THAT would have been funny. Another 3-2 final. Hawks get at least a point out of all games against Detroit. Good win boys. NOW BRING ON THE PLAYOFFS!!! My biggest concern is special teams not Crawford.
Wow,that was a fun game to watch.I was expecting a half hearted attempt,only shows what going through that losing streak taught the boys!Hawks are a confident bunch now.They showed they don’t care ,who they match up against in the first round.Depth and Crow looked good today,go Hawks!!!
I think I saw Howard’s undies as Kane undressed him. I was waiting for him to point to Datsyuk after as if to say “I did it better.”
101 points, well done after losing 9 straight and no’ C’ for 22 games. I like the way we’ve reduced opponents shots and chances lately, Corey’s ready to go. It doesn’t matter who we play, I guarantee the other teams fans are more ill at ease at seeing us. All we need are Toews and Bolland close to 100% , and be half way decent on special teams and we will make noise at home AND the road…… bring em on! Best playoffs on the planet!!!
We need our full healthy team i.e Toews and Bolland. If we get them back 100% and Crawford stays hot we can go deep into the playoffs.
Phoenix it is…