Ducks Defeat Blackhawks in Overtime

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 in overtime in quite possibly the best game of the 2014-2015 Stanley Cup playoffs. They are just one win away from the Stanley Cup finals.

The Ducks stayed on the offensive for all but 5 minutes of the first period. The Hawks played disorganized hockey while the Ducks operated smoothly and efficiently. Cam Fowler scored the first goal at 5:10 and Ryan Kesler added another one 30 seconds later.

Sami Vatanaen scored at 14:37 to put the team up 3-0. The Ducks scored three goals before the Hawks registered a shot on goal. People on social media brought up a goalie change, but the fault was solely on the five players in front of goalie Corey Crawford. No shots on goal meant the puck stayed in front of Crawford the majority of the time.

The period ended and the fans sent off their Ducks with deafening cheers they deserved. What a great period for the Ducks, who showed the world why they are in the Western Conference Finals. They ended the period leading in shots, 11-3.

One has to wonder what coach Joel Quenneville or even Crawford said to the team in the locker room because a completely different team emerged in the second period. Now it was the Ducks who could not organize a single play or keep the puck away from the Hawks.

Teuvo Teravainen scored at 1:11 in the second period.

The fans went dead silent. One could hear a pin drop on the ice. All of a sudden the Hawks had six shots. Nine. Eleven. The Hawks denied the Ducks any shots on goal until halfway through the period. Then Brent Seabrook shot the puck passed goalie Frederik Andersen with 30 seconds left in the period. The Ducks led 3-2 at the end of this period.

Both teams came out flying in the third. It took almost 15 minutes for Patrick Maroon to score, which put the Ducks up 4-2. A two goal lead lessens the pressure with breathing room.

But the Hawks do not stop fighting until the clock hits zero, especially captain Jonathan Toews. With a gorgeous pass from Marian Hossa the captain flicked the puck passed Andersen at 18:10 to bring the Hawks within one.

Now watch this next goal by Toews, which tied the game to force overtime. How did the puck go in?! Here are four views.

Overtime. Again. The Hawks generally push numerous overtimes, but the Ducks wanted the game to end. It took Matt Beleskey only 45 seconds to win the game for Anaheim. For an exciting game it ended on a pretty anti-climatic note.

One of the better parts of the game was Emilio Estevez tweeting support for the Ducks. He played Gordon Bombay, a trial lawyer that was assigned to coach a youth hockey team as community service in Disney’s The Mighty Ducks in 1992.

https://twitter.com/EMILIOTHEWAY/status/602988559159566336

https://twitter.com/EMILIOTHEWAY/status/603009174268588032

https://twitter.com/EMILIOTHEWAY/status/603017343879356416

https://twitter.com/EMILIOTHEWAY/status/603034053147635712

https://twitter.com/EMILIOTHEWAY/status/603041817181847552

https://twitter.com/EMILIOTHEWAY/status/603045763057201153

https://twitter.com/EMILIOTHEWAY/status/603049443097583616

Game 6 is Wednesday in Chicago at 8 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN.

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