With thief in net, Hawks steal game
For some teams, like the Philadelphia Flyers, a 3-0 series deficit isn't even defining let alone daunting.
But the San Jose Sharks aren't the Flyers, and the Blackhawks aren't the Boston Bruins.
No objective observer could possibly give the Sharks a chance after the Hawks stole a game, 3-2 in overtime, Friday night at the UC, putting the Hawks up 3-0 in the series and just 1 victory from advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992.
"We just come to the rink Sunday to try to win a hockey game,'' said veteran John Madden. "You can't make it more than that. You've seen what can happen to teams that forget about the next game."
Even if the next game isn't the last game of this series, the bounces are all going the Hawks' way right now, as they have for most of the postseason, and after they outshot the Hawks 46-38 Friday, outplaying the Hawks most of the night, it just doesn't seem possible that the Sharks can win four straight when they couldn't win with their very best effort Friday.
"We've worked too hard for three games to be in this spot,'' said Hawks captain Jonathan Toews. "That's a San Jose team with a lot of pride, and they're not going away.
"They're not going to give us that fourth win, and last time I checked you have to win four."
Wise of the Hawks to say the right things, but the reality is the Sharks are getting outplayed in net, where Antti Niemi was nothing short of brilliant Friday, and that makes the San Jose task impossible.
"I felt a little bit shaky at the start of the game," Niemi admitted. "I gave up a bad rebound on the first goal, but then I made some good saves and I felt a lot better and got my confidence."
Niemi's allowed only 5 goals in three games, which ought to boost anyone's confidence, while San Jose has lost three games by a total of 4 goals.
But the only number that matters is the score of the series.
"What now?" said Sharks coach Todd McLellan, repeating the question. "We know what now. We come back with the same effort Sunday.
"I thought our effort was very good tonight. We played a heck of a game, but sometimes bounces go your way and sometimes they don't.
"But I can't ask for much more from our club."
The Sharks did give it all they had and deserved to win the game, but it's the Hawks' year and when it's your year, you win games even on the nights when you shouldn't.
"We spent a lot of time in our end tonight, and you never want to see that," Madden said. "We have to be smarter and we have to be better.
"Our goalie did the job for us tonight. You don't want to have to put it all on your goalie like that at this time of year."
But Niemi was great, and now the Hawks have withstood all the Sharks can throw at them, which has to suck the life out of their room.
"Both teams played like it was Game 7 tonight," Toews said. "It will probably be just like that again Sunday."
Even if it is, and even if San Jose wins a game, it will be too little and too late.
They just don't have the speed or the need that the Hawks possess, and what could have been a very challenging series looks like it will be over in short order.
"We'll be here to play a game Sunday. I'm sure of that," McLellan said. "There's still four teams left in the playoffs."
Not for long.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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