Hawks turn on the power in Game 5
All was well for the Blackhawks on Saturday night as they lived to play another day.
The power play finally contributed with 2 big goals, 1 of them by Jonathan Toews, his first of the playoffs, in a 4-1 win over Detroit that forced a Game 6 on Monday at Joe Louis Arena.
Andrew Shaw added 2 goals, including 1 on the power play, keeping the Hawks alive in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals.
“We had a great season and we didn't want to see it end like this,” Shaw said. “We tried to pump each other up and we came out hard in the first period and created momentum through the game and just took off with it.
“We finally got the power play going and Johnny scored a goal. It was awesome. They've been all over him, but it just shows he's a great captain. He sticks with it and was rewarded tonight.”
The power play came up big in short span in the second period, scoring twice to break open a 1-1 game.
“They were better than us today,” said Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg. “That's a fact.”
Shaw scored the go-ahead goal at 13:08 when he tipped in a Duncan Keith shot from near the blue line. The Hawks had control of the puck for more than a minute after Toews won a faceoff.
Toews scored himself on another power play at 15:47 after Justin Abdelkader cross-checked Patrick Kane.
Toews roofed a shot over Jimmy Howard from the short side for his first goal of the playoffs in his 10th game. Toews leapt into the arms of Marian Hossa after finally scoring.
“To see Jonathan get his first, it's nice to see that smile on his face instead of a frown,” Bryan Bickell said. “It's good for him. He got that first one and there's many more to come.”
Bickell not only opened the scoring at 14:08 of the first period with his fourth goal of the playoffs from in the slot, he set a physical tone before that with a huge hit on Joakim Andersson.
“I feel like that's part of my game,” said Bickell, who laid out Niklas Kronwall in the third period with another thunderous hit. “Get the crowd into it, you know? Slow them down any way possible. That's what my game is all about.”
After Dan Cleary tied it at 9:37 of the second period on a rebound, the Hawks' power play went to work and decided the game on goals by Shaw and Toews.
“He (Shaw) made a nice tip there in front of the net,” Keith said. “It's the screen that we need and the shot. It's not rocket science. It's moving the puck around and taking what they give you. We did that tonight.”
The Red Wings still lead the series 3-2, but the Hawks think they might have wrestled back the momentum.
“We have to go back to Detroit and win a game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I just thought today we got the momentum back on our side and let's go in there and keep it.”
Said Keith: “We want to keep it going. We feel good right now, we feel like we played the way we know we can and skated the way we can. The power play gave us a boost though for sure.”
Brent Seabrook and Keith were reunited on defense and the move by Quenneville paid off. Seabrook played his best game of the series with an assist, 7 shots and 2 hits in 23:20 of ice time.
That's more than double the ice time he received in Game 4.
“I was pretty nervous before the game started, to be honest,” Seabrook said. “(Keith) calms me down out there. I think we get yelling at each other every once in a while and that sort of takes my focus off thinking too much — just get (ticked) off at him and I just play.
“I can't think too much. I feel I get myself in a rut so tonight I just went out there and played.”
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