If the Blackhawks were going to go through all that nonsense in the third period they figured they might as well win it in overtime because that s the only time they ve won in the Western Conference finals. Here s the 5 Things blog about Hawks 5 Ducks 4 in double OT
1. Antoine Vermette redeemed himself but for the easy reason you think.
His dramatic winner in double overtime of Game 4 on Saturday night was not redemption for sitting out Game 3.
No his game winner only underscored the stupidity of Joel Quenneville s decision to scratch Vermette and Teuvo Teravainen.
What s more Vermette s game winner might ve mocked the coach s thinking too.
Antoine Vermette on sitting in Game 3Blackhawks center Antoine Vermette talks about sitting in Game 3 against the Ducks.
Blackhawks center Antoine Vermette talks about sitting in Game 3 against the Ducks.
See more videosAfter they could do nothing but watch the Hawks lose Game 3 Vermette and Teravainen regained their rightful roster spots and proceeded to create the winning goal in Game 4 Vermette completing a play Teravainen started.
Teravainen did a nice job of keeping the puck in the Ducks zone at the left point and moving it down the boards to Vermette who swept it behind the net to Patrick Sharp.
And then Vermette left the zone as surprising as that might sound. Playing the defensive role for which he s known Vermette skated just outside the blue line in case Sharp lost the puck and the Ducks broke out.
Vermette then was about 60 feet from Sharp just seconds before his goal. I guess he has some closing speed even at 32.
As Sharp moved out from behind the net to make a play Vermette charged down the slot took the pass and fired. Ducks center Rickard Rakell made a spectacular diving save that would ve been in some Top 10 show if there had been another result on the play.
lRelated Chicago BlackhawksGame 4 Blackhawks 5 Ducks 4 (2 OT)See all relatedBut the puck bounced straight at Vermette who bodied it down to the ice and fired again this time from a steep angle on the left side finding a desperately needed victory just inside the far post.
Forget the Hollywood schlock. The goal would not redeem Vermette for sitting out Game 3 because he had nothing to do with it.
No the redemption came from Vermette s third period mistake that cost his team a goal as the Hawks were trying to set some kind of record for fastest third period choke.
Ducks winger Matt Beleskey stripped Vermette of the puck in the slot and beat Hawks goalie Corey Crawford with a snap shot inside the far post for the second of Anaheim s three goals in 37 seconds.
That made it 3 all a tie that was broken just 14 seconds after the Hawks timeout ended.
The worst timeout I ve ever called Quenneville said with a laugh.
Two periods later Vermette made it all better. That s a player redeeming himself for his own mistake not one made by his coach.
But now that Quenneville is rating things such as timeouts where do those Game 3 lineup decisions rank among Quenneville s worsts
2. They don t hand out a Conn Smythe Trophy for one overtime period but so what. I m giving it to Crawford.
In the first overtime period the Ducks outshot the Hawks 17 5 and out chanced them 9 6.
But what s telling are the Corsi For numbers that reflect 5 on 5 puck possession and control of the game. The Hawks held a considerable 54 39 advantage in regulation according to war on ice.com but the Ducks swamped them 24 15 in the first overtime.
One of Crawford s best saves came on a Kyle Palmieri tip in heavy traffic less than three minutes into the period.
His other notable save in that period came off a Francois Beauchemin shot that Crawford s sweater swallowed and then spit out much to Crawford s surprise.
In scrambling to locate the puck Crawford nearly kicked the Hawks into a three games to one deficit and then Palmieri flew by and was about to poke it in before Crawford got his right pad on it.
3. Here are the happy numbers that get revived when the Hawks complete the first four games of a series that requires more
They are 26 6 in Games 5 6 and 7 since the start of the 2009 playoffs 14 2 since the start of the 13 postseason that produced their last Stanley Cup.
4. Hey look Brandon Saad
He plays left wing on a line with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa which means he has been getting a lot of ice time. He just hadn t done anything worth noticing.
Then came the shorthanded goal that gave the Hawks a 1 0 lead.
The Hawks caught a break when Saad grabbed a loose puck near the right boards inside his blue line and Beauchemin backskated into referee Chris Rooney.
Saad turned it on skating through Ryan Kesler s diving poke check in the slot before going backhand forehand and over Andersen s blocker for the game s first goal in a series in which every game has been won by the team that scored the first goal.
Beauchemin wouldn t have caught Saad but he might've poked the puck loose and at least would've slowed him enough to give Kesler a better chance at defending him or dismembering him or whatever Kesler felt like at the moment.
That was Saad s first goal in seven games and his first multi point game of the playoffs. Toews goal that began the ridiculous six goal third period was his first in six games. Hossa has one goal in this series and just two this postseason. For a top line that unit has checking line production.
5. Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen was beaten for three even strength goals and a shorthander in four plus periods in Game 4.
In the first three games of this series he had allowed just three even strength goals in almost 12 periods.
Saturday night marked the first time this postseason he allowed five goals in a game after twice allowing four.
Andersen had allowed three goals in a period once this postseason getting strafed by the Jets in the first round more than a month ago. He responded by allowing just two goals in a 5 2 closeout win.
Andersen has matched his amazing play with remarkable calm so it will be interesting to see how he responds in Game 5 the most critical game of the postseason. The Hawks aren t the Jets and the Ducks don t have a thee games to one lead the way they did in April.
a. Apparently this has become policy so here are the minutes for the Fab Four
Duncan Keith 40 39Niklas Hjalmarsson 39 13Brent Seabrook 32 03Johnny Oduya 29 26The Ducks had three defensemen play at least 30 minutes topped by Cam Fowler s 32 31.
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