Third period (:00)- The Blackhawks win 5-3! They will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals!
Third period (:41)- Jakob Silfverberg scores to make it 5-3!
Third period (1:02)- Brad Richards missed an empty net goal, then Johnny Oduya puts it out of play for a delay of game penalty.
Third peroid (2:24)- Another great save by Crawford as he stones Perry on the rebound attempt.
Third period (3:15)- Ducks are going empty net.
Third period (5:23)- At what point do the Ducks pull Andersen out of the net and go with the extra attacker?
Third period (6:37)- The Blackhawks take advantage! Brent Seabrook drills a slapshot past Andersen to make it 5-2 Blackhawks.
Third period (7:11)- A great poke check by Marian Hossa causes a breakaway for the Blackhawks, and Cam Fowler has no choice but to committ a hooking penalty which gives the Blackhawks another power play.
Third period (8:24)- Anaheim scores again! Corey Perry scores to get the Ducks within two. Patrick Maroon with the cross crease pass to Perry who puts it in on an open net.
Third period (9:29)- Fleishmann gets a quick shot off the faceoff, but Crawford makes another save.
Third period (11:11)- More odd man rushes for Chicago, but Andersen comes up with a good save on Kane.
Third period (13:54)- Another icing on Chicago.
Third period (15:01)- Tick, tick, tick. The clock is ticking away, not fast enough for the Blackhawks.
Third period (16:50)- Remember a couple years ago when the Toronto Maple Leafs were up 4-1 in the third and the Boston Bruins came back to win 5-4 in OT? Of course you do. Stay tuned.
Third period (18:01)- Penalties are now killed.
Third period (18:30)- Brad Richards gets a couple whacks at it but can't put it in.
Third period (19:59)- We're underway in the third!
Second period (:00)- The second is over. It's 4-1 Chicago and the Ducks have more penalty killing to do at the start of the third. The Blackhawks have nine odd man rushes to just one for Anaheim. Anaheim has outshot (26-16) and outhit (31-10) the Blackhawks, but they are still down three goals. But Anaheim can score in a hurry. They scored three goals in 37 seconds earlier this series, so don't go away.
Second period (:19)- Ryan Kesler called for slashing. There'll be 4 on 3, then 5 on 3 for Chicago.
Second period (1:07)- Anaheim gets on the board! Ryan Kesler scores, putting one just over Crawford's shoulder to make it 4-1 Chicago.
Second period (1:20)- Yet another odd man rush for the Blackhawks, Saad draws a penalty from Sami Vatanen. It will be 4 on 4. Seven odd man rushes for the Blackhawks in the second period alone. Anaheim has struggled on defense in this one.
Second period (1:45)- Another great save by Crawford, who has been magnificent tonight.
Second period (2:05)- Anaheim gets their first power play as Kruger goes to the sin bin for tripping.
Second period (4:39)- Anaheim has outshot Chicago 23-14 believe it or not. Andersen has not played well since game three. I'd pull him, particularly if he gives up another one. His confidence must be extremely low right now.
Second period (5:49)- Ryan Kesler has been on the ice pretty much whenever Jonathan Toews was for the first six games of this series. But this game has been different--Toews has seen a lot of Anaheim's top line (the Getzlaf line).
Second period (6:15)- It's a good goal! Marian Hossa was trying to hit the rebound into the net, it went off his skate but it was ruled that there was no distinct kicking motion. It looked like the right call to me.
Second period (6:15)- Maybe a goal for Marian Hossa? We'll review.
Second period (7:41)- Fleishmann let one go, Ryan Kesler was a half step two late on the redirect. Ducks are gaining some momentum now.
Second period (10:57)- Anaheim had a scrum in front of the net, but once again can't make the play. Chicago had a two on one the other way, but Patrick Sharp couldn't make the pass to Teravainen, which would have likely been a goal.
Second period (14:03)- Kane had a breakaway, but Andersen makes the glove save to keep it at 3-0.
Second period (18:42)- Chicago gets on the board again! A turnover by Anaheim in their own zone leads to a goal by Brandon Saad! Patrick Kane got it in the slot, Andersen thought he would shoot, but he passed it to a wide open Saad who put it into a wide open net.
Second period (19:59)- We're underway in the second!
First period (:00)- We've reached the end of one. Anaheim has 8 shots on goal to Chicago's 6, but the Blackhawks have put two in the net, and that's what counts. They've also held the edge in the faceoff circle.
First period (1:03)- Anaheim gets yet another chance in front of the net, but Patrick Maroon can't put it in. Those shots will go in later in the game.
First period (3:16)- Chicago has dominated the faceoff circle, winning twice as many faceoffs as the Ducks. Toews has won 5 of 7 draws.
First period (3:54)- Anaheim actually has more shots on goal than Chicago does (7-5). The speed of this game has been turned up yet another notch from where it was in game six.
First period (4:38)- Teuvo Teravainen came so close to making it 3-0.
First period (8:05)- Toews bags another one! He drills a shot from near the blue line past the glove of Andersen to give Chicago a 2-0 lead! Shaw screened the goalie well on the goal.
First period (8:43)- A few seconds into the power play the Ducks got it out and Nate Thompson had a one on one with Duncan Keith. Keith made a great poke check to end the shorthanded scoring chance for the Ducks.
First period (8:52)- We have our first penalty. Jakob Silfverberg is called for hooking as Saad got an outlet pass with open ice in front of him. Two minutes in the sin bin for Silfverberg as Chicago looks for their second goal.
First period (10:13)- We've seen a few shifts from the Chicago fourth line already. Marcus Kruger, Andrew Desjardins and Andrew Shaw man that line.
First period (13:35)- Kane is seeing time on both the Toews line and the Richards line. He could rack up minutes quickly in this game. One other change: for the Ducks Tomas Fleishmann is in for Emerson Etem.
First period (17:37)- We have our first goal! Jonathan Toews drives the rebound from the shot by Niklas Hjalmarsson into the net to make it 1-0 Chicago.
Patrick Kane is playing on the top line with Brandon Saad and Toews in this game. Line change for Chicago. Also Kyle Cuminsky is playing with Brent Seabrook on the second defensive pair.
We're off in game seven!
Interesting note: these two teams lost a combined three games in the four series they played prior to this one. Both teams have lost three games in this series.
The Ducks hope the third time is the charm, and would clinch their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 2007 when they won their lone Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks are looking to win and make their third Stanley Cup Finals appearance in the last six years and win their third Cup in as many years. As Terrell Owens once said, “get your popcorn ready”, these teams are gonna put on a show.
As the Lightning showed last night, experience only goes so far. The Rangers were the more experienced team, but the Lightning played as well as they had all series and they won. While experience favors the Blackhawks, these Ducks are out to prove they are not the Ducks of year’s past who squandered high seeds in first and second round playoff losses. They have lost Game 7s on their home ice each of the last two years—to the Kings in the second round of last year's playoffs and to the Red Wings in the first round in the 2013 playoffs.
Whomever comes out of the west will have a challenge on their hands. Can the Blackhawks stop the Lightning's attack with little depth on the blue line if they advance? Can Anaheim match the depth that the Lightning have with their four lines? Will either goaltender be consistent enough against the most dynamic offense in the league? One team will get the chance to find out.
Ben Bishop was very inconsistent in goal during the Eastern Conference Finals. He gave up two or fewer goals in four games (1, 2, 5 and 7, with shutouts in 5 and 7) but allowed five goals in Game 3 and Game 4 as well as seven in Game 6.
The Lightning are fueled by a fast, explosive and deep offense, led by the most powerful line in these playoffs, all of whom had their coming out party this year—center Tyler Johnson and wingers Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat. Victor Hedman leads a group of defensemen that have played well in these playoffs.
The winner of this game will face the Lightning, who defeated the New York Rangers 2-0 in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden last night. It was just the third Game 7 loss in Henrik Lundqvist's illustrious career.
There were seven Game 7s in the 2014 NHL playoffs. Road teams won six of them. There have been four Game 7s so far in this year's playoffs, and the home team won the first three (Washington Capitals over New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning over Detroit Red Wings in round one, New York Rangers over Capitals in round two), before the Tampa Bay Lightning won Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals last night.
Cogliano has taken somewhat of a backseat to Jakob Silfverberg and others this postseason, but he still has nine points this postseason, including points in four games this series.
Two guys that could end up being the unexpected hero for their teams are Teuvo Teravainen for the Blackhawks and Andrew Cogliano for the Ducks. Teravainen has scored two goals in the playoffs for Chicago and the highly touted prospect has played well throughout the playoffs both ways.
Fortunately for the Ducks, Corey Crawford has been inconsistent in net for the Blackhawks during this series too, but he did step up when Chicago needed him to most, specifically in Game 6.
In Games 1 through 3, Frederik Andersen was stellar in net for the Ducks. He allowed just five goals to a potent Chicago offense. In games 4-6, he struggled mightily. He has had sub-.900 save percentages in each game, and allowed at least four goals in every game.
With their backs up against the wall, the Blackhawks responded in Game 6 with three unanswered goals in the second, followed by two by the Ducks. When it looked like Game 6 would be another nail-biting finish, Shaw came through for the Blackhawks with two goals, including one on an empty net, to spur the Blackhawks on to a 5-2 victory. The Ducks have won all the odd games while the Blackhawks have won all the even ones. Will that trend hold in Game 7?
Game 5 was another overtime game, with Matt Beleskey scoring the game-winner for the Ducks just 45 seconds into overtime.
The series shifted back to Chicago and Anaheim took Game 3 2-1, then Chicago took Game 4 by a score of 5-4 in double overtime as Antoine Vermette scored the game winner to even the series.
The next four games would each be decided by one goal, with game two being decided in triple overtime 3-2 in Chicago's favor as Marcus Kruger scored the game winner after Andrew Shaw's game winner was disallowed because of the “Head-butt Heard ‘Round The World”.
This year's Western Finals against the Anaheim Ducks have been unique in its competitive nature. Through six games, each team has 19 goals. Anaheim won game one by three goals at 4-1, but two late goals made the game look a lot more lopsided than it was.
In that series, the Blackhawks overcame a 3-1 hole to force a Game 7 in Chicago, and in that game, they got up 2-0 and 4-2, with the Kings coming back to tie the game both times before Alec Martinez drilled the game winning goal in overtime to put the Kings back in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three seasons, and they wound up winning the Cup.
This year's Western Conference Finals have proven to be all we hoped it could be, even after last year's classic series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings, which the Kings won in seven games.
It's Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals! The Stanley Cup Playoffs are like no other in sports. They are the most intense playoffs in sports, with every shift every player plays having the potential to be the difference between his team moving on in their pursuit of the Cup or going home.