Chicago Blackhawks Quickly Take Game 2, Lead Series 2-0

Jun 2, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie

(32) skates back to the bench as he is replaced by teammate

(45) during the second period in game two of the Western Conference finals of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

One thing that you have to like about this Blackhawks team is that they learn from the mistakes that they have made this season.  In Game #2 of the Detroit Red Wings series they let the Wings take control of the series early on when the Hawks played their worst game of the playoffs. The Hawks now had the chance to take Game 2 at the United Center against the defending Stanley Cup Champs and they did just that on Sunday Night.

It didn’t take long for the Hawks to get on the scoreboard when less than two minutes into the contest after some good pressure by the Hawks, Viktor Stalberg made a great blind feed to Andrew Shaw who beat Jonathan Quick glove side for the quick strike lead.  The Kings, who looked slow footed in Game #1, were not exactly flying around the ice but they had far more control of the puck then they did in Game #1.  The difference maker in Game #2 was Corey Crawford who stopped all 13 Kings 1st period shots and enabled the Hawks to extend their lead to 2-0 when the Kings let Seabrook skate in untouched and snap one right past Quick for a 2-0 lead right before the end of the 1st period.

The second period was won right away by the Hawks but it wouldn’t show up until 7 minutes into the period on the scoreboard when on the powerplay with the puck in front of Quick and Bryan Bickell ready to pounce, Robyn Regehr knocked it in his own net with credit going to Bickell for a 3-0 lead.  Less than 2 minutes later Patrick Sharp started a 2 on 1 with Michal Handzus and when Handzus snapped it by Quick it was a 4-0 lead a the first time in his Stanley Cup playoff career Quick would give up 4 goals in a game, and it chased Quick right to the bench for the rest of the game.  Jeff Carter picked up a very late 2nd period goal to send the game to 2nd intermission with a 4-1 scoreboard lead for the Hawks.

The story of the 3rd period going in was to kill the clock and although the Kings were pressing the Hawks were up to the challenge.  A strange site half way into the period was when Colin Fraser seemed to take on the whole team starting with Jonathan Toews, then Michal Rozsival.  With more pushing and shoving Crawford stepped in and started shoving to keep people off his Captain.  The Hawks penalty kill at home would eventually have to end and it did on this night when Tyler Toffoli scored a meaningless powerplay goal with 1:02 left in the game to give the Final score a 4-2 look.

The Hawk did what they were suppose to do and win both games this weekend at home, now the fun begins when they travel to LA to see if they can become the first team to win at Staples Center in the playoffs this season.  Game #3 is Tuesday night at 8pm

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