Bolland's late PP goal lifts Hawks over Canucks

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - There's no denying the Blackhawks have done it the hard way since the playoffs started. Heading into Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Canucks Saturday night at GM Place, the Hawks had fallen behind in each of the first four games.

While they finally scored the first goal on Saturday, it took yet another come-from-behind effort as the Hawks rallied for a 4-2 victory to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series they now can close out on Monday at the United Center.

"We don't want to get ahead of ourselves and say it's over by any means," Jonathan Toews said. "We don't want to say that. We just want to come back home and play our best game of the series."

The Hawks made the Canucks pay dearly for two selfish penalties, the worst being Kevin Bieksa's high-stick of Patrick Sharp with 6:44 remaining in regulation and the score tied 2-2.

Patrick Kane made a perfect pass out of a crowd to Dave Bolland in the left circle and Bolland didn't miss the open net with goalie Roberto Luongo down and out and 5:05 to play.

"Kaner is a tremendous passer and when he sees an open guy he'll give it to you," Bolland said. "It was nice to make them pay for those penalties."

Dustin Byfuglien scored the Hawks' first 2 goals in another dominant performance, both off assists from Brian Campbell.

The Hawks played a terrific first period and scored the first goal for the first time in the series when Byfuglien converted a Campbell rebound at 15:27. It was 2-2 heading to the third period with Byfuglien scoring his second goal to tie it on a power play at 18:22 of a nasty second period where bad blood boiled over. Goals by Ryan Kesler and Mats Sundin had given Vancouver a 2-1 lead.

It was after Sundin's goal at 11:16 of the second period that numerous skirmishes broke out between two teams getting sick of each other. The Hawks capitalized after Shane O'Brien took an extra roughing penalty at 17:12 on Byfuglien's tying goal less than a minute later. Byfuglien took a pass from Campbell and beat goalie Roberto Luongo from between the circles.

"If you keep working hard you're going to get your chances and that's what we did tonight," Byfuglien said. "We're coming home with momentum, but we better have our 'A' game because they're going to be coming after us."

The Canucks hurt their comeback bid after Bolland's goal when Kesler took another penalty with 3:53 to play. After they killed the penalty, the Canucks pulled Luongo for a sixth attacker, but as Kesler raced into the play from the bench he slipped and took out teammate Sami Salo.

The puck squirted loose and was picked up by Martin Havlat, who skated the length of the ice to score into the open net.

While wins are wins, Hawks coach Joel Quenneville was waiting to see how his team played with the lead, which hadn't happened since Games 5 and 6 against Calgary.

"You always want to score and establish yourself early in games," Quenneville said before the game. "It would certainly be nice to play with a lead. But we just don't want to focus and say we have to score first, we have to score first. I think getting off to a good start is a priority and hopefully that comes with it."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p> <p class="breakhead">Three stars</p> <p class="News">1. Dustin Byfuglien: Two huge goals and 6 hits for the Hawks' difference-making power forward. </p> <p class="News">2. Brian Campbell: The defenseman had his best game as a Hawk with 2 assists in 21 minutes and kept bouncing back from some heavy hits. </p> <p class="News">3. Dave Bolland: Scored the game-winning goal on a power play with 5:05 to play and was strong defensively again. </p> <p class="breakhead">Key stat</p> <p class="News">The Hawks scored 2 critical power-play goals. Big moment Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa's selfish high-sticking penalty against Patrick Sharp with 6:44 remaining in a 2-2 game resulted in Dave Bolland's power-play goal. </p> <p class="breakhead">The quote </p> <p class="News">"It's going to be hard not to think what the United Center will be like on Monday." - Hawks winger Patrick Kane. </p> <p class="breakhead">Looking ahead</p> <p class="News">The Hawks can wrap up the series and put away the Canucks with another victory in Game 6 on Monday at the United Center.</p> <div style="float:right;margin:0 0 6px 0;"> <div class="moreHeader"> More Coverage </div> <div class="moreHolder"> <div style="margin:6px;text-wrap:auto;"> <div class="moreSubHead"> Photo Galleries </div> <ul class="moreGallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=292593>" class="mediaItem">Game 5 photo gallery </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>