Heading Into Game Seven in the West

Well, before we watch Game Seven tonight (Sunday night), I should recap how we got here and what it did in the playoff pool, shouldn't I? Yes, that's what I thought.

You know how I thought that the Blackhawks were out of gas and they were just about to be knocked out of the series?   Well, the Blackhawks showed me... with one heck of a last ditch effort to save their playoff lives in the series.

The Blackhawks even had themselves a bit of an up-and-down game in Game Six, prevailing 4-3 in regulation time, thanks to one of their big stars, Patrick Kane.

Chicago went down 1-0 after one on a Dwight King goal, but stormed back in the first three minutes of the 2nd period, as Kane and Ben Smith scored to take the lead, a lead they held through the middle frame.  The Kings did well to fight back in the 3rd period, with Drew Doughty scoring to tie it up and then Alec Martinez for the go-ahead goal, all within the first eight minutes, a lead that the Kings should have been able to hold, in theory.  But no, those resilient Hawks tied up the game again on a Duncan Keith marker, just before Kane was able to put the winner to bed, scoring at the 16:15 mark of the 3rd, with the Blackhawks holding on to head back to Chicago for Sunday night.

Kane was the big player in the game and the playoff pool, scoring a pair of goals, including the winner and then adding an assist for a 4-point game.  Brent Seabrook had a pair of assists and Corey Crawford made 26 saves to get his nod in the blog post as well.  Doughty was the big man for the Kings again, picking up a goal and an assist in the game, for one more mention.

Well, this has created a dilly of a pickle in the standings, as three teams are now tied at the top with 236 points. Corey M. leads the pack with 61 goals for, followed by Travis G. with 60 goals and Wes M. with 56 goals. All three teams have de-throned Gus M., who has been relying on the Rangers, a team that doesn't get a Game Seven, but still has 234 points in 4th place.

Since Los Angeles and Chicago are going to that Game Seven, if these pool teams relied heavily on these two, picking their better players in higher boxes from this series, they should get a nice present in Game Seven.