Hawks Advance to Western Conference Finals

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CHICAGO (AP)—Patrick Kane(notes) scored three times, Jonathan Toews(notes) had the go-ahead goal in a frantic final period Monday night, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks 7-5 to win the Western Conference semifinal series 4-2.

Chicago’s quick, talented team will make the franchise’s first appearance in the conference finals since 1995. And fittingly it was the two young stars, Kane and Toews, leading the way before a roaring crowd at the United Center.

When Chicago’s Troy Brouwer(notes) was called for goaltender interference with just under 8 minutes remaining, Daniel Sedin(notes) scored quickly with a shot from the left circle that put the Canucks ahead 5-4.

Kane responded. He got a puck from behind the net and then maneuvered to the side and put a shot under Roberto Luongo(notes) to tie the game at 5.

Then, 49 seconds later on a power play, Toews worked around the side and tried to pass across the crease to Patrick Sharp(notes). But the puck deflected in off Vancouver’s Alexander Edler(notes) with 6:11 left.

Kane capped his hat trick with a hard back-hander past Luongo with 3:43 remaining.

Chicago’s Nikolai Khabibulin(notes) made 33 saves and Luongo 23.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap?gid=2009051104

 

[dougthonus]

That's the one thing that sucks about basketball, is that you know right away whether you have a legit chance to win.

In hockey, baseball, or football if you make the playoffs you always have a legit chance. You can have big upsets in those sports due to hot pitching or hot goaltending. You basically never see an NBA team come from deep in the draw to do anything.

The only example I can think of is the 94-95 Rockets since I've followed basketball, and even that team added Drexler mid season and was missing Hakeem for awhile and would have won over 50 games had Hakeem not been injured.

 

[ryguy24]

Was an awesome game/shootout if anyone watched.

 

[ryguy24]

And props to Kane for the hat trick.

 

[dougthonus]

ryguy24 wrote:

And props to Kane for the hat trick.

Kane's come under a lot of criticism for his performance in the playoffs hadn't he?

I remember that controversy about whether he was really sick or injured when he missed a game. I've watched a little bit of playoff hockey, but I can't say I follow the team. All I know about it is what they say on ESPN 1000 and if their Hawks knowledge is as good as their Bulls knowledge it means I know very little.

 

[Shakes]

dougthonus wrote:

That's the one thing that sucks about basketball, is that you know right away whether you have a legit chance to win.

If they changed it to a single game winner takes all format it'd give everyone a shot. Can't see them ever agreeing to give up the revenue though.

One thing I like about (Australian Rules) football is the nature of the game makes it pretty much impossible to expect players to play more than one game a week at a high level, meaning the league can't money grab and make a boring best of 999 game finals series.

 

[dougthonus]

If they changed it to a single game winner takes all format it'd give everyone a shot. Can't see them ever agreeing to give up the revenue though.

One thing I like about (Australian Rules) football is the nature of the game makes it pretty much impossible to expect players to play more than one game a week at a high level, meaning the league can't money grab and make a boring best of 999 game finals series.

NFL football is the same way, the game is too physical to play a 'series'.

I'm not sure, there are advantages to the single game elimination in that anything can happen, but I like the series too.

 

[HeavyC]

They'll never give up the revenue, but I'd like to see them go back to shorter series in the 1st round. I'd honestly go with like a 3 game in Round 1, 5 game in Round 2, 7 game in Round 3 and the Finals.

If they are too worried about upsets, they could do a reseeding after each round.

 

[dougthonus]

I like the 7 game series all around, though how controversial would Bulls / Celtics have been if the Bulls lost because the refs didn't rule that Rondo foul a flagrant foul. I guess technically they still did lose the series for that reason, but if that was the final ruling it would have been crazy.

 

[chi_hawks_23]

Great to see any chicago team doing this well. This blackhawk team is poised to be in the stanley cup finals for the next few years or so from what national media outlets are saying. Young team, well coached and plays a fun style of hockey. Should be an enjoyable ride.

Also, Im not a big hockey fan at all, but again, great to see Blackhawks kicking some serious ass in the playoffs.

 

[dunkside.com]

dougthonus wrote:

That's the one thing that sucks about basketball, is that you know right away whether you have a legit chance to win.

In hockey, baseball, or football if you make the playoffs you always have a legit chance. You can have big upsets in those sports due to hot pitching or hot goaltending. You basically never see an NBA team come from deep in the draw to do anything.

The only example I can think of is the 94-95 Rockets since I've followed basketball, and even that team added Drexler mid season and was missing Hakeem for awhile and would have won over 50 games had Hakeem not been injured.

'99 knicks
8th seed and made the finals

but i'd still rather have the best teams in the finals, not a team that gets lucky in one game or two and eliminates a much better team who just had a bad day.

it's also the right thing, rewarding teams that play hard all season. otherwise what's the incentive to play hard for a top seed when you know it won't matter much come playoff time ?!