BLACKHAWKS ADVANCE WITH ROAD VICTORY OVER FLAMES

The Chicago Blackhawks finally won a game on the road during their opening round NHL playoff series against the Calgary Flames, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  On Monday night the Blackhawks stormed to a 2-0 first period lead en route to a 4-1 victory at the Pengrowth Saddledome, giving them a 4-2 series win.  Calgary was eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season, while Chicago wins their first playoff series since 1996.

Chicago scored three unanswered goals to start the game and used another stellar performance from goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to prevail in the contest.  Khabibulin stopped 46 shots in game six and was named the ‘first star’ of the contest, after stopping 43 shots in a 3-1 Hawks victory in game five.  Patrick Kane quickly gave Chicago a lead with his power play goal just 2:20 into the game assisted by Dustin Byfuglien and Kris Versteeg.  Byfuglien and Versteeg would also get assists on the Hawks’ second goal scored by Adam Burish at the 10:11 mark of the opening period as Chicago took a 2-0 lead into the dressing room at intermission.   Calgary outshot Chicago 16-7 in the opening twenty minutes, but couldn’t get anything past the goalie known as the ‘Buh-lin Wall’.

Khabibulin continued to frustrate the Flames in the second period as his team actually built their lead despite being on the wrong end of a 17-4 Calgary barrage.  The Flames were unable to score, while Chicago added another goal on the power play at 14:57 scored by Brian Campbell with the lone assist to Patrick Kane.  Calgary finally got on the board less than a minute into the final period when Todd Bertuzzi scored assisted by Jordan Leopold, but their first goal against Khabibulin was also their last.  Chicago’s Dustin Byfuglien added an empty net goal with five seconds remaining in the game assisted by Samuel Pahlsson and Brent Seabrook to produce the final 4-1 margin.

Chicago will now face the well rested Vancouver Canucks in the second round.  With Vancouver’s Roberto Lugono also in insane form, it promises to be a goaltending clinic.  In the dressing room celebrating the victory, Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said that his team will need to recover quickly:

"We're excited about the win, but you pay the price. You take a lot of pressure and abuse."

Toews also suggested that the Blackhawks goaltender Khabibulin was motivated by hearing pundits suggest that he wasn’t bringing his ‘A-game’:

"People started saying in Game 3 and Game 4 he wasn't playing his best hockey. He's our best player and he proved that again tonight."

Chicago’s Adam Burish said that teams had been surprised by the Hawks’ speed and toughness all year, and that Calgary was no exception:

"All season, I think teams thought they could challenge us physically and we've done a good job of answering that bell. I think a lot of our guys enjoy that. I know I enjoy those confrontations."

In the losing dressing room, Jarome Iginla refused to assess blame for his team’s early exit from the playoffs:

"The organization gave us the opportunity to go deep and to win and we didn't get it done. Injuries are part of it. Even with those, we were still capable for winning this series and it's hard to take."

Chicago now faces an intriguing matchup against the Vancouver Canucks in the next round.  Vancouver swept the St. Louis Blues, but it was far from a dominant performance with three of their four victories being decided by a single goal.  Canucks’ goaltender Luongo has been playing out of his mind, but his team has a number of nagging injuries and hasn’t been playing exceptionally well in front of their superstar netminder.  It’s definitely a series in which the Blackhawks can compete, if not prevail.