Who thought the Hawks would lose to Wild? Sweep erases Cup doubts
I've been picking the Wild to win the whole thing since late February, so I can't waver now. Watch the Hawks to go down in 6.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Yep, there it is in black and white — a brash prediction by yours truly that Minnesota had the goods to end the Blackhawks' season in this second-round series. After watching Zach Parise, Jason Zucker, Ryan Suter and Devan Dubnyk skate circles around the Blues in the first round — and especially in Game 6 — it seemed to make sense.
But the beast that is the Blackhawks Playoff Machine should never be underestimated. So lesson learned on my part — especially after they got the brooms out Thursday with a 4-3 Game 4 victory, erasing Minnesota in four efficient, 60-minute affairs.
This is the third straight time the Hawks sent the State of Hockey into a State of Depression, racking up a 12-3 postseason record against the Wild in the process.
Brent Seabrook, Andrew Shaw, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa scored for the Hawks, and Corey Crawford continued his solid play by turning away 34 of 37 shots.
The Hawks will now play the winner of the Anaheim-Calgary series in the Western Conference finals, the fifth time in seven seasons they've advanced that far.
“Good leadership. All the way down, it's an accomplishment for the whole organization,” Duncan Keith said in talking about such an impressive run in the salary-cap era. “But at the same time, the guys in the room here (aren't) satisfied with just getting to the Western Conference finals. It's exciting, good opportunity and it'll be a good challenge.”
Patrick Sharp echoed Keith's thoughts.
“It was pretty pumped up. A little more reserved than years past, but guys felt good about it,” Sharp said of the postgame locker-room atmosphere. “We're proud of the accomplishment to get out of our division. I think it's a pretty tough division to play in.
“Ton of enthusiasm going forward. We can't wait to get back in the conference finals and try to win another series.”
The news wasn't all great as the Hawks lost veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival to an apparent ankle injury in the second period.
“Tough loss,” coach Joel Quenneville said.
After Seabrook and Shaw gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead, the Wild got back into the game on an Erik Haula goal at 6:42 of the second period. It was just their second goal in over 177 minutes.
Kane, who extended his points streak to seven games, continued his dominance by assisting on Shaw's goal and then beat Dubnyk between the legs with 6:40 left in the game. When Hossa scored an empty-netter to make it 4-1, it looked like the game was over, but Minnesota scored twice in 51 seconds to make the Hawks sweat a bit at the end.
“Not a textbook finish,” Crawford said. “But still found a way. Other than that, we played a great hockey game. We knew they were going to give everything they could to fight back in the series. It was an exciting finish to say the least.”
Crawford ended up stopping 124 of 131 shots in the series with 3 of those goals coming in the second period of Game 1, and 2 coming in the waning moments of Game 4.”
Quenneville and all the players were asked what it's like to be heading to yet another Western Conference final.
“They want to be successful, they want to find a way to win and in the end they want to be champions.”
“It's a great achievement by a great group of guys. A lot of those guys have been here for all seven years,” Quenneville said.
Said Crawford: “Our goal is to win the Cup. We battle hard to get to this point. We've got to continue playing the way we do or get even better. It's a long road, but we're definitely happy to close this one out tonight. … It feels nice to finish it here.”
And with 8 more wins, they know how nice it would be to lift a third Cup in just six seasons.
One thing's for sure — I won't be betting against them anymore.
• Follow John's Hawks reports on Twitter @johndietzdh.
3 stars of the game
1. Corey Crawford, Hawks: That's three straight No. 1 stars for Crow, who is well deserving despite allowing 2 late goals. Stopped 34 of 37 shots in Game 4 and 124 of 131 in the series.
2. Marian Hossa, Hawks: His empty-netter proved to be huge to give Hawks a 4-1 lead. Had 4 shots on goal.
3. Patrick Kane, Hawks: Had a goal and an assist in running his points streak to seven games.— John Dietz