Blackhawks Edge Closer to Glory

Patrick Kane continued his impressive playoff performance and put in a first star performance to gain the Chicago Blackhawks an impressive 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins at the United Center last night and as a result they take a 3-2 lead in the series and lie just one game away from the ultimate prize!

Kane struck late in the first period and bagged his eight goal of the playoffs 17 minutes in when he backhanded the puck into the bottom left corner of Tuukka Rask’s net when Johnny Oduya’s shot shattered Dennis Seidenberg’s stick and fortuitously slid into his path! The Blackhawks skilfully used their pace and made use of the extra space available to frustrate the Bruins defence- meanwhile Corey Crawford was proving a wall in a net and it would prove to be that way for the remainder of this fixture.

Chicago fans didn’t have long to wait for Kane’s ninth goal as after less than 5 minutes played, he scored high into the Boston net put the Hawks 2-0 to good! But the period was marred by an upper body injury to Jonathan Toews, who was checked hard by Oduya after 8 minutes, continued on to finish the period, but although he returned to the bench for period 3, he was not allowed to take ice. But the Bruins also lost Patrice Bergeron to injury the same period and without him, the Bruins felt his absence offensively- this heightens the possibility of both key players being missing for game 6!

The Bruins gave Chicago a scare after 3:40 of the third period when Zdeno Chara scored on Crawford’s glove side to reduce the score to 2-1, but Boston would get no further than that and with only 15 seconds left, Rask was pulled from net for the extra skater which left Danny Bolland to slot the puck into the empty and fill the United Center which joy and anticipation!

With only one victory remaining, this potentially means that the Blackhawks could hoist the cup in Boston’s backyard as Game 6 is scheduled at the TD Garden- but the Bruins will not take the kindly the prospect of embarrassment and as we have continually learned in this entertaining final, they are a side to take seriously.