Western Conference Game 3 Breakdown

The Blackhawks are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals, and it only cost them seven shattered teeth of Duncan Keith! The Hawks swept the Sharks in four straight games, but it truly was closer than what outcome may insinuate. For instance, Friday’s game three was decided in overtime. It was an interesting game from the beginning. Not even a minute and an half into the game Dave Bolland was called for goalie interference on a B.S. call that came after a great save by Nabokov. Less than a minute later Joe Pavelski scored on the power play. O, but wait, after the replay the goal was taken off the board as it showed that the puck was kicked in and Pavelski never got his stock on the puck before it passed the goal line. It turned into a penalty kill and somewhat deflated the Sharks for the rest of the period. Excellent back checking by the Hawks helped them nearly score on a turnover. They played well through the neutral zone as well as the Sharks could only set up the cycle with a chip and chase. Early in the second Andrew Ladd absolutely lifted Big Joe Thornton off the ice with a sweet hip-check as they raced to the corner. Though, Thornton would get Ladd back late in the third with a nice hit, but not as good since Ladd really didn’t see it coming like Thornton did. With two minutes into the second period Bolland got called for his second penalty of the day for holding. 37 seconds later Hossa was called for hooking and after missing some pretty easy shots, Marleau finally potted one on the 5 on 3 advantage. Niemi was pinned between the pipes and the puck just went off the web of his glove and into the net. The Hawks finally caught a break when Couture went to the box for slashing and Sharpie put the biscuit in the basket after a needle-threading pass from Toews as he centered the puck from the right corner. Toews broke the Blackhawks’ franchise record with his 12th consecutive postseason game with a point. After two periods it was a slight 23-21 SOG advantage for the Sharks, but a commanding 26-11 faceoff advantage for the Hawks. I thought it was interesting that the announcer for NBC said that San Jose was “Hanging in there” with the Hawks. What? I know that the Hawks had the two game series lead over the Sharks, but the game was tied at the time and they were the number one seed of the Western Conference. They shouldn’t be the ones “Hanging in there” with anybody they should be playing the game. The first two-thirds of the third period were ugly. Duncan Keith was sent to the box not even a minute in for hooking after an awful turnover. About five minutes later Big Buff was called for tripping and later Bolland was called for tripping to make it his third penalty of the game. The puck was in San Jose’s zone for way too long and the only bright spots was Ben Eager’s blast that went off the post and the fact that the Hawks penalty kill special team had comes through not once, not twice, but thrice in the third period alone. Bolland’s game was a little sloppy as indicated by his three infractions; however, he did score with 3:55 left to give Chicago a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, Marleau scored his second game with 4:23 left in the game, which eventually went to sudden death. It was an exciting extension to the game as Niemi made three great saves in a roll around 10:30 into overtime. This created the chance for Bolland to get another point as he got the assist for Big Buff’s game winner from between the circles as he went top cheese over Nabby’s shoulder sending the Gatorade bottle flying in there air! Niemi had 44 saves. 44! Out of 46, almost a 96 in save percentage! Nabby had himself a game as well saving 35 of 38 SOG. The Hawks took game three and were 11-0 all time in series’ leading 3-0. Stay tuned for breakdown of Game 4 from the UC. Game 4 breakdown coming soon...

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