Despite trailing 3-1 in the series, Blackhawks continue to find ways to win
CHICAGO — Since losing Game 4 and trailing their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the St. Louis Blues 3-1, the Chicago Blackhawks have been focused on one thing: Find ways to win.
No extra points for style, no thought about who would light the lamp. Just survive. And, hopefully, advance.
In Game 5, Chicago gave up a two-goal lead before Patrick Kane saved the season with a double-overtime goal. But in Saturday’s Game 6, it wasn’t the superstars who willed the Blackhawks from a 3-1 second-period deficit. The new guys, the ones brought in to help this team get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the fourth time in seven seasons, propelled the reigning champions to a 6-3 victory to force a Game 7.
Blackhawks overcome deficit to force Game 7 against Blues
“We weren’t quite making (the Blues) earn what they got offensively (in the first period),” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “(In) the second, I think all four lines responded. It’s a testament again to our experience and to the guys who haven’t been here too long to really buy in and play the right way when we’ve been in this do-or-die position the last couple games, and you see what can happen when we all buy in, we all play the right way.”
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Dale Weise, brought in from the Montreal Canadiens in February, made his first contributions of the postseason with the go-ahead goal at 16:18 of the second period.
“That one felt good, for sure,” Weise said. “You know, I’ve been snake-bitten here. Goalies have made some unbelievable saves on me. When you get slumping a little bit, you don’t shoot as many pucks as you would. I can shoot the puck a little more, but to get that monkey off my back, that one feels great. Hopefully I contribute in Game 7.”
The looming task is to go into St. Louis’ building on Monday and complete a series comeback against a Blues team that had been playing well.
"We wanted to give ourselves a chance to get back to that seventh game,” said February acquisition Andrew Ladd, who had a goal and an assist for his first points of the playoffs. “I thought we did a good job of taking it one game at a time and focusing on Game 5 and Game 6, and now we'll do the same. We'll regroup, refocus and get ready to go to St. Louis."
"They played great, but we were hesitant in our game,” St. Louis forward Scottie Upshall said. “We didn't do the simple things and they jumped on us. They had a great second, they did what they had to do.”
Andrew Shaw, back from his one-game suspension for directing a homophobic slur at an official in Game 4, has weathered all sorts of playoff scenarios with the Blackhawks. He has seen third- and fourth-liners be game-changers, as Ladd, Marian Hossa and Marcus Kruger were Saturday.
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“(Our third line) was chipping in huge to start the game off and playing great defensively as well, shutting (Vladimir) Tarasenko's line down to the best of their ability and just working,” Shaw said. “You see how hard they work out there, and the momentum builds when you see that too."
In his best game as a Blackhawk, Richard Panik was another of the newcomers who found that next level. He helped set up the second-period goal by defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk that tied the game.
“I felt pretty good on the ice,” Panik said. “I think I still have better in me, and hopefully I’ll show it in Game 7. You enjoy the moment now and it’s back to work tomorrow. We told ourselves one (goal) at a time, just focus on our next shift and go from there.”
The Blackhawks are 15-1 in Game 6s under Quenneville (and 2-2 in Game 7s). But it means nothing if they can't finish the job.
“We’ll never get full of ourselves; at the end of the day, we’ll give the Blues credit,” Toews said. “They’re a tremendous hockey club and there’s been no easy moment against that team in this series.
“We’ve got a great chance ... to find a way to survive in Game 7.”
