Hawks Go Home With Their Chance

Game 5, back in Tampa Bay, someone was going behind the 8-ball, not to say that it is the biggest deal, because a win in the other direction means we're going to a Game 7.  Still, no one wants to be behind the 8-ball at any point in any series.

The focal point of this series has been the Tampa Bay crease, especially given that each of the four previous games of the series have been decided by one goal.  Yes, there was a return to the crease for Ben Bishop in Game 5, as his suspected groin injury may have still been causing him some distress, but at least it wasn't enough to force him from playing on Saturday night.

Unfortunately for the Lightning, even with the return of their number one goalie in this game, their level of concern didn't drop down at all, especially after Nikita Kucherov tumbled over Corey Crawford early on, chasing a loose puck and falling into the post, suffering an upper-body injury, likely to his shoulder.  Kucherov didn't return to the game and already, the Lightning were down a very big gun.

Shortly there after, there was more concern around the Tampa net, as a puck dumped down the ice into the Tampa end was chased down by Bishop, trying to beat Patrick Sharp to the play, but also seemingly unaware that he had help in Victor Hedman, who was also unaware that his goalie had come out to try and make a play as well.  The two Tampa players collided and Sharp had an easy stroll to the front of the net, depositing one in and the Blackhawks had a 1-0 lead, just after the 6-minute mark.

The rest of the 1st period was still pretty sloppy, but really, it could have gone either way.  The Lightning were still getting the odd chance, but neither team were too strong on their skates until the 2nd period.  Thankfully for Tampa, it was only a 1-0 deficit at the break.

You have to credit Tampa last night, as they did stick around for the better part of the game, but there was also an err about the Blackhawks, that they were okay with a 1-0 lead.  Of course, that plan was bound to backfire, given the amount of bounces this series has already had and Valtteri Filppula managed to corral a bouncing cross-ice pass midway through the 2nd period, getting the puck to sit down and then fire it into the net past Crawford, who had to come across to make the save.  All of a sudden, it was a tie game.

At 1-1, the pace of the game certainly picked up and the lead up to the 2nd intermission was pretty good.  Chicago having to kill a penalty, but still playing exceptionally well and both goalies got over their early game jitters with some solid efforts to finish the middle frame.

The 3rd period, however, was some prototypical playoff hockey, as the Blackhawks were the team that found the back of the net, early on, and then grinded their way to the final buzzer.  Antoine Vermette pounced on a loose rebound on a transition drive into the Tampa Bay zone, the puck falling right into his path in open space and it was a simple shovel play, which put the Blackhawks ahead, eventually for good.

In what turned out to be his second game-winner of this series, Vermette's timely goal and Crawford's excellent play led this team through the 3rd period, giving this team another 1-goal victory, taking the game 2-1, taking the lead in the series, 3-2, and now they head back to Chicago to try and finish this series off.

Tampa was by no means out of this game at any point, so this doesn't mean that the best road team in the playoffs are out of this series quite yet, it just provides an extra angle to play on, when the stories come down.

Well, Vermette and Crawford were the only two notable players from this game, each picking up 2 points, including the winner and the win, so it was another cheap night in the standings... or was it?

Remarkably, with only three goals in the game, Jesse was still able to overcome a 2-point deficit in the standings and leapfrog Thor to take a 2-point lead of his own.  Jesse had assists from Jonathan Toews and Anton Stralman on the 1-0 and 1-1 goals and then picked up the Crawford win for a 4-point night, while Thor failed to pick up anything with his unique players.

There was some bad news for Jesse, as Kucherov, who had left the game in the 1st period, belongs to him as a unique player.  If Tampa Bay does come back to force a Game 7 on Monday night, Jesse will want to see his share of the triplets out on the ice or else he'll risk losing that lead to Thor.  Of course, all that pain and worry would go away, if the Blackhawks were to win it all at home.

Still, at least there is some drama left his this hockey pool, right?