Message sent: Blackhawks plan to keep going hard to the net

If there was a turning point in the Blackhawks' Game 2 Western Conference semifinal victory over the Canucks on Saturday, it occurred 11 minutes into the second period courtesy of Dustin Byfuglien.

The Canucks led 2-1, but the momentum had turned on a goal by Patrick Sharp. A little more than a minute later, Byfuglien flew down the right side and accelerated to the net past defenseman Kevin Beiksa.

Bieksa hooked Byfuglien for a penalty, but Byfuglien kept going and crashed into goalie Roberto Luongo. Right then the Hawks had laid down the challenge to the Canucks: We're going hard to the net. Try and stop us.

"That was the plan from the start," Hawks winger Adam Burish said. "It's harder for him when you've got bodies in front. It's awfully tough for Luongo to battle pucks when he's got two or three guys standing in his face, falling on him and bumping him when you can."

Burish agreed Byfuglien's charge to the net was a game-changing play.

"Huge play by Byfuglien," Burish said. "It's like when a guy keeps hitting you, pretty soon you start looking around for it.

"It's the same thing for a goalie. They know big Buff is coming and he's going to stand in his face and get in his way. That's an awfully big body to look around. Even the best goalie in the league, if you can't see it, you can't stop it with probably the biggest man out there getting in the way."

Bieksa didn't think he hooked Byfuglien, and the Canucks thought there was no attempt made by Byfuglien to stop before reaching Luongo.

"I don't think he tried to run me intentionally," Luongo said. "I think he just lost an edge, although I'm not sure because I'm focusing on the puck."

Moments after Bieksa's hook, Willie Mitchell flipped the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, giving the Hawks a two-man advantage.

Sharp scored his second goal to tie it 2-2. Sharp's first goal came after he jammed the net with Burish and Andrew Ladd.

"That's an important way to get goals, especially against this goaltender," Sharp said. "We want to go to the net as hard as we can and do it legally.

"I think on the first goal you saw Ladd and Burish standing right in the crease and the puck squirts out and we poke it in. That's the way we're going to have to do it."

Dave Bolland's short-handed goal at 16:50 of the second period put the Hawks ahead to stay.

Goals by Ben Eager and Patrick Kane in the first six minutes of the third period resulted from more hard drives to the net.

Eager's goal 2:13 into the third period came after Burish blew past defenseman Alex Edler and passed to Eager, who couldn't be contained by Shane O'Brien.

The Hawks made it a point to exploit a Canucks defense that had lost anchor Sami Salo two minutes into the game with a back or rib injury.

"We had a lot of time down at their end in the second period," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "When you're down a defenseman, it can be wearing.

"We wanted to make sure going into the game that we make them play defense. That was our thought process and I thought we did a good job in the second period."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=290989">If Salo's out, Hawks will benefit in a big way </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=290996">Quenneville: We've got to stay out of the box </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>