to move up and down
It couldn’t be a coin flip forever, could it? No Stanley Cup final had gone to overtime in each of the first three games since 1951, and that series never did anything else. The first two games here became as close as games get, more or less, but didn’t have to be. Boston blew a 3-1 third-period lead in Game 1; Chicago squandered a one-sided first period in Game 2; both games came down to a single play at the conclusion of a long and breathtaking series of them, like checkers piled up until the tower fell.
This time, the gap went unbridged. The Boston Bruins pushed their checkers one way and glued Chicago’s to the table, and the result was a 2-0 win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final, for a 2-1 series lead.
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Nobody knew what to expect, not really, whether they said they did or not. The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks had been sealed in separate bubbles during this lockout-shortened season, East and West, and by the time they met in the Stanley Cup finals all they had was practice with shadow teams, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. Time to find out what they had been missing. The series was a mystery; the game became one too.
And Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final went from a rolling joy to a tense stalemate to a march into the night, past the point where the city lights marked the edge of town. It took three overtimes, and countless near-finishes, until finally with 7:52 left in the third OT, a point shot from Michael Rozsival drifted off Dave Bolland’s stick first, then caught a tiny piece of Andrew Shaw — his knee, it looked like — to end it all. Chicago won 4-3 to open the series. It was the fifth-longest game in Stanley Cup final history. All it took was a double deflection that changed direction twice, on Chicago’s 63rd shot of the game. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Pool/The Associated Press)
Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa scored in the second period, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Saturday in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Corey Crawford made 21 saves, and the Blackhawks generated just enough offence to improve to 7-1 at home in the playoffs.
Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday.
The rivalry didn’t want to let go.
The long goodbye after 87 years of close proximity needed to be longer. A Game 7 to punctuate the end of their relationship just wasn’t enough for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks … so they had to settle the last Western playoff series they will ever contest with overtime.
Someone’s heart was bound to be broken. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh/The Associated Press)
Goalie sprawl — Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard (35) covers the puck against the Phoenix Coyotes in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Detroit, Monday, April 22, 2013. Detroit won 4-0. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Mr. T scored a goal at the Blackhawks game on Tuesday night during a promotion at intermission. In the leadup, he was asked for his prediction about the shot from centre ice.
He responded the only way Mr. T knows how: “PAIN. I pity that puck.”
NHL will announce Raffi Torres suspension on Saturday: Phoenix Coyotes winger Raffi Torres will learn on Saturday the length of his suspension for his devastating hit on Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa, the National Hockey League said on Friday.
Torres was suspended indefinitely after he launched himself into an unsuspecting Hossa with a shoulder-to-head hit more than half a second after the Chicago player passed the puck during Game Three of Tuesday’s Western Conference quarter-final.
“I can’t really talk about it right now,” Torres told Reuters when asked how the hearing went.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa has been taken off the ice on a stretcher after being hit by Phoenix’s Raffi Torres in the first period of Game 3 of their opening-round playoff series on Tuesday night.
Hossa was near the boards at centre ice and had just turned and passed the puck when Torres left his skates and delivered a late shot with his shoulder that knocked Hossa to the ice. Hossa was down for about five minutes as medical personnel rushed immediately to his side, and then was taken off of the ice.
Photos: Jim Young/Reuters
When all else fails, go after the goalie? Chicago Blackhawks centre Dave Bolland drops his gloves on Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith and Antoine Vermette in the second period during Game 1 of the NHL Western Conference quarter-final hockey playoffs. REUTERS/Darryl Webb
Three against one? Oh well. The Canucks have been pushed around too many times in the last three seasons and now they are finally starting to get aggressive. As long as hockey is a violent contact sport, that will be a necessary part of the game. Two seasons ago in the playoffs, the Canucks capitulated in the face of the Hawks’ aggression. Has this week been a sign of things to come?
