Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 Breakdown

Coach Q decided that he needed to make some line shake-ups and he did that by breaking up the 1st line. It was Hossa and Kopecky with Toews this game. This gave a good balance to each line as it spread out the speed of the team. The Hawks’ power play was much better in Game 5 as the went 2 for 4. They missed out on their first opportunity when Krajicek was called for cross-checking 2:50 into the game. Dave Bolland gave the Flyers a chance of their own when he was called for cross-checking himself with 10:45 left in the 1st. With 8:44 left Hartnell was guilty of a high stick. During the power play Byfuglien absolutely trucked Powe for his 30th hit of the series. Big Buff had eight total hits in the game and leads the series in hits by far. Seabrook was credited with the first goal of the game. It was a power play goal that bounced off of every body’s favorite defensemen Chris Pronger, which made that particular goal a little bit sweeter. Steeger got the primary assist as Brower got the secondary. The Hawks continued to apply the pressure and scored a second goal with 4:34 left in the 1st. Bolland (Sopel, Byfuglien) was standing at the side of the net when he threw the puck off of Leighton’s skate and bounced into the net. The boys in the Indian-head sweaters didn’t stop there in the 1st either. With 1:45 Versteeg (Seabrook, Byfuglien) fired a snapper just over the right shoulder of Leighton, who may have been screened for a split second that was just long enough for the the puck to sneak past him. The Hawks had 13 shots on goal in the first, but the 2nd period didn’t start out so well. Philly decided to go back to Boucher for the second time this series, but :32 into the period Hartnell (Leino, Briere) potted a lay-up goal. Kopecky lost the puck along the boards and Leino fired a drive at Niemi, one which he thought he had covered up, but it squirted out for Hartnell to tap in and the Flyers were on the board. The Hawks answered quickly less than three minutes later when Kane (Ladd,Sharp) put the biscuit in the basket. Ladd fired a shot that was blocked by Pronger, but bounced right back to Ladd who found the trailing Kaner with a pass at the left side of the net. The Flyers responded even quicker cutting the lead in half when Timonen (Briere, Leino) scored the Flyers’s 2nd goal of the game. Byfuglien has his own way of responding when he downright WRECKED Pronger in the corner. It was a hit similar to the crumbling of the Walls of Jericho. It was very satisfying to say the least. Both teams traded penalty kills at mid-period. Soon after, Niemi made yet another disgustingly awesome sliding pad save. With 4:22 left in the 2nd, Pronger went to the penalty box for hooking Kaner. Pronger got his butt handed to him all night, whether it was by Big Buff putting Pronger shaped holes in the boards or Kaner skating circles around the old man. Seven seconds later, you guessed it, Byfuglien (Toews, Keith) potted a power play goal from just in front of the net thru the 5-hole of Boucher. Pronger wasn’t on the ice to cross check Byfuglien from behind in front of the net, what a shame. The Hawks should have had another power play, but there was no call when Campbell caught a stick to his face and two, count them, two refs missed it. After two periods, Big Buff had a goal and two assists. The Blackhawks continued to have good play through the neutral zone and had even better fore-checking, especially by Captain “Serious” Toews. However, the Flyers were still able to scratch out a goal with 13:24 left in the game when van Riemsdyk pocketed a big rebound from Krajicek. Van Riemsdyk must have grown some goal-muscles because he decided to cross-check Hossa in the back, which of course wasn’t seen by any of the refs, and sent Marion to the locker room for a few moments to regroup. Hossa did come back though and played with even more inspiration as if he needed any more. Byfuglien blew up Timonen and a ref on the same hit. The guy was all over the ice and later he gave Leino and then Pronger consecutive bell-ringing hits. With 9:22 Steeger went to the box for high sticking Pronger, but it was an excellent penalty kill as the Flyers were only able to get one shot on goal. The Hawks even almost scored a shorty by Toews as he collected a sweet drop-pass from Bolland, but to no avail….this time. Sharpie potted one from Kane with 3:52 left in the game and that was pretty much the dagger to the heart, although Gagne did cut the lead to two as he was able to score when Keith broke his still on a slapper and had to defend the zone stick-less. Eddie Olczyk pointed out that late in games defensemen with the lead should revert back to the harder wooden sticks, as opposed to the fiber, composite, whatever you want to call it stick so things like that don’t happen. The Hawks were playing well enough to get away with it this time though. The Flyers pulled Boucher and with 2:05 left in the game Byfuglien did a good job to settle the puck down and center it and scored an empty-netter to put Game 5 to rest and give the Hawks the 3-2 series advantage headed back to Philly. Buff, Bolland, and Steeger all were +3 for the game. Niemi had 23 saves and the Hawks had a faceoff advantage of 38-31. The Blackhawks came out with a good pace, attacked the net and kept up that pace throughout the game for the most part. It was the best response that they could have executed coming back from Philly and if they play their game again, this series will be over on Wednesday. If not, we’ll see the boys for the last game at the UC this season on Friday and hope the bounces go their way.

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PREACH