BLACKHAWKS RALLY TO BEST FLAMES

The Chicago Blackhawks are making their first postseason appearance in seven years, but they’re already looking like seasoned playoff veterans.  On Saturday, the Hawks calmly rebounded from a 2-0 first period deficit to beat the Calgary Flames by a 3-2 score at the United Center in Chicago.  The Blackhawks now lead the series 2-0, and the two teams will head to Western Canada for games three and four beginning on Monday night at Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome.

From the outset of game 2 it appeared that Calgary would be able to take advantage of the Blackhawks’ playoff inexperience—Chicago had won only one playoff game in the previous eleven seasons before this series.  Jarome Iginla scored on the power play at 7:44 of the first period assisted by Michael Cammalleri and Dion Phaneuf to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.  Calgary would double their advantage before intermission as Adrian Aucoin scored at the 16:15 mark assisted by Iginla and Olli Jokinen. 

 The momentum in the game would shift decidedly in the Blackhawks favor in the second period, however, and team captain Jonathan Toews quickly cut into his team’s deficit with a power play goal at: 46 seconds of the frame.  Patrick Sharp and Cam Barker would get the assists on Toews’ goal, and Sharp would even the score with his goal at 13:58 (assisted by Patrick Cane and Brian Campbell).  Then with seconds to play in the period Toews would score again, assisted by Dave Bolland, Brent Seabrook.  This margin would stand through a scoreless third period as the Blackhawks prevailed.

While Toews’ offensive heroics received the bulk of the attention, much credit is due the Blackhawks’ defense as they limited Calgary to only 18 shots in the final two periods of play.  Afterwards, Toews said that while the game didn’t exactly unfold according to play his team didn’t get discouraged by the poor first period start:

"It's not always the way we drew it up. We knew there was a lot of hockey left. It was kind of a fresh start for us. It was a great second period and an even better third, knowing we held them off for so long. The last two games have been incredible experiences."

Calgary coach Mike Keenen spoke of his team’s loss of momentum after a strong first period effort:

"We established a good road game. We took the lead, played with a lot of authority in the first period. We expected them to come back and push us hard, which they did. ... We didn't respond like we needed to. They were able to take the game back in the second period."

Flames captain Jarome Iginla was even more critical of his team than the notorious taskmaster Keenen:

"We didn't make plays on the puck and we were getting pushed off it. That's unacceptable. Nobody's happy here. We know we let not only one game, but two games slip away and we'll see what we can do and what we're capable of."

While Calgary will be glad to play the next two games on home ice, they still have their work cut out for them—the Blackhawks have now won six straight against the Flames this season, going 4-0 in the regular season before establishing a two game lead in the current series.