gusman
06-10-2010, 05:44 AM
from nhl.com
Kane OT goal breaks Hawks' Stanley Cup drought
PHILADELPHIA -- Three seasons of change, two seasons of genuine excitement and one season that could only be defined by one silver trophy came down to one game plus for a place in history Wednesday night at Wachovia Center.
You've got your Stanley Cup, Chicago. Now get ready for your parade.
The Blackhawks dominated the Philadelphia Flyers for most of the night, but still needed overtime to win their first Stanley Cup since 1961. Patrick Kane scored 4:06 into the extra session to give the Hawks a 4-3 victory in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Blackhawks' captain Jonathan Toews was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player.
Kane's shot from the lower left circle found the inside of the right post and went through Michael Leighton and banked back into the goal. The play was reviewed briefly, slowing the celebration, but eventually it was ruled a goal -- and the Hawks went wild.
"I was hoping to God it was an actual goal," Toews said. "I didn't want to celebrate for nothing."
"I knew it was in right away," said Kane, who became the first player to get the Cup-winner in OT since New Jersey's Jason Arnott 10 years ago.
The Wachovia Center almost stopped for a few seconds until the realization set in for both sides that the puck was in the net -- and the Hawks' championship drought was over.
"I heard the sound. It was a funny sound," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "Nobody knew where the puck was. Kaner thought it was a goal."
No one was more heartbroken than Leighton.
"I went to the corner and saw a guy drive the net," he said. "I thought he was going to pass it, but he threw it at my feet and it went underneath me."
The Blackhawks raised the Cup, which didn't enter the building until 9:22 p.m. ET, before an orange crush crowd of 20,327 fans, the most to ever see a National Hockey League game in the state of Pennsylvania.
That record-setting crowd went wild when Scott Hartnell scored the game-tying goal off a pinballing puck with 3:59 to play in regulation. Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi also had to make one giant save on Jeff Carter with a little over a minute left in regulation to make sure the game got to overtime.
Niemi made two saves in overtime and 21 in all to win the Stanley Cup only 25 months and four days since signing with the Hawks as an undrafted and unrestricted no-name free agent out of Finland.
Niemi, who played in only 39 regular-season games, finished his first tour through the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 16-6 record. He was 26-7 during the regular season. Leighton faced 41 shots, including two in overtime, and made 37 saves in defeat.
Not only did the Blackhawks have to regroup after the third period, but they also had to come back from a 2-1 deficit after Danny Briere scored eight minutes into the second period.
Patrick Sharp got the tying goal (his 11th of the playoffs) during a 4-on-4 situation only 1:58 after Briere made it 2-1. Andrew Ladd made it 3-2 on a deflection of Niklas Hjalmarsson's slap shot less than seven minutes later.
Matt Carle, pressured by a forechecking Sharp, coughed the puck up and Kane gobbled it up. He took it to the right point and shoveled the puck over to Hjalmarsson, who waited, wound up and fired with Ladd cutting across Leighton's line of sight. Hjalmarsson's shot appeared to be heading wide left, but hit Ladd's stick blade and went into the net with 2:17 remaining in the second period.
The Blackhawks had their fifth power play of the game bleed over into the third period as 32 ticks remained on Briere's cross-checking penalty. However, the Flyers were able to kill the rest of it off and were hoping to take momentum from that.
Instead, Chicago, as it did for most of the night, settled into its game and controlled the pace until late in the period when Hartnell provided his own brand of fireworks.
It appeared the Flyers were going to steal momentum when Mike Richards leveled Tomas Kopecky on the wall only 40 seconds before Briere's goal. But Braydon Coburn gave it back when he cross-checked Ladd nine seconds later.
The penalties evened out when Hossa was called for goalie interference with 40 seconds left in Coburn's penalty. Sharp got his goal 11 seconds before Coburn was allowed back on the ice, and then Ladd got his less than seven minutes later.
Chicago held a 27-13 advantage in shots on goal after two periods largely because it owned the play for the opening 19:33 of the first period. Penalties got in the way of what could have been a dominating first period on the scoreboard, too.
The Blackhawks took a 1-0 Byfuglien's power-play goal with 3:41 to play in the period, but Hartnell tied it up in the final minute when Brent Sopel was serving his second minor penalty of the period and the Hawks' third overall.
Sopel was called for interfering with Ville Leino away from the play.
Hartnell, who was lying down in front of the crease while Chris Pronger had the puck was at the top of the zone, got up and punched home the rebound of Briere's shot from the top of the left circle.
The Flyers couldn't get a shot on goal on either of their first two power plays, but managed three shots and a goal on their third.
Minutes before Hartnell scored, Chicago got on the board with some nifty and quick puck movement. Pronger was in the penalty box for his high-stick on Kris Versteeg. Like Sopel, it was Pronger's second minor of the period.
After clearing the puck out of a scrum on the right side, Duncan Keith fed Kane, who dished to down low to Toews by the right post. Toews' pass to the slot went off Leighton, but to Byfuglien in front. He banged it in to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Byfuglien's shot was the Hawks' 17th of the period. At the time the Flyers had only three.
Kane OT goal breaks Hawks' Stanley Cup drought
PHILADELPHIA -- Three seasons of change, two seasons of genuine excitement and one season that could only be defined by one silver trophy came down to one game plus for a place in history Wednesday night at Wachovia Center.
You've got your Stanley Cup, Chicago. Now get ready for your parade.
The Blackhawks dominated the Philadelphia Flyers for most of the night, but still needed overtime to win their first Stanley Cup since 1961. Patrick Kane scored 4:06 into the extra session to give the Hawks a 4-3 victory in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Blackhawks' captain Jonathan Toews was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player.
Kane's shot from the lower left circle found the inside of the right post and went through Michael Leighton and banked back into the goal. The play was reviewed briefly, slowing the celebration, but eventually it was ruled a goal -- and the Hawks went wild.
"I was hoping to God it was an actual goal," Toews said. "I didn't want to celebrate for nothing."
"I knew it was in right away," said Kane, who became the first player to get the Cup-winner in OT since New Jersey's Jason Arnott 10 years ago.
The Wachovia Center almost stopped for a few seconds until the realization set in for both sides that the puck was in the net -- and the Hawks' championship drought was over.
"I heard the sound. It was a funny sound," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "Nobody knew where the puck was. Kaner thought it was a goal."
No one was more heartbroken than Leighton.
"I went to the corner and saw a guy drive the net," he said. "I thought he was going to pass it, but he threw it at my feet and it went underneath me."
The Blackhawks raised the Cup, which didn't enter the building until 9:22 p.m. ET, before an orange crush crowd of 20,327 fans, the most to ever see a National Hockey League game in the state of Pennsylvania.
That record-setting crowd went wild when Scott Hartnell scored the game-tying goal off a pinballing puck with 3:59 to play in regulation. Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi also had to make one giant save on Jeff Carter with a little over a minute left in regulation to make sure the game got to overtime.
Niemi made two saves in overtime and 21 in all to win the Stanley Cup only 25 months and four days since signing with the Hawks as an undrafted and unrestricted no-name free agent out of Finland.
Niemi, who played in only 39 regular-season games, finished his first tour through the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 16-6 record. He was 26-7 during the regular season. Leighton faced 41 shots, including two in overtime, and made 37 saves in defeat.
Not only did the Blackhawks have to regroup after the third period, but they also had to come back from a 2-1 deficit after Danny Briere scored eight minutes into the second period.
Patrick Sharp got the tying goal (his 11th of the playoffs) during a 4-on-4 situation only 1:58 after Briere made it 2-1. Andrew Ladd made it 3-2 on a deflection of Niklas Hjalmarsson's slap shot less than seven minutes later.
Matt Carle, pressured by a forechecking Sharp, coughed the puck up and Kane gobbled it up. He took it to the right point and shoveled the puck over to Hjalmarsson, who waited, wound up and fired with Ladd cutting across Leighton's line of sight. Hjalmarsson's shot appeared to be heading wide left, but hit Ladd's stick blade and went into the net with 2:17 remaining in the second period.
The Blackhawks had their fifth power play of the game bleed over into the third period as 32 ticks remained on Briere's cross-checking penalty. However, the Flyers were able to kill the rest of it off and were hoping to take momentum from that.
Instead, Chicago, as it did for most of the night, settled into its game and controlled the pace until late in the period when Hartnell provided his own brand of fireworks.
It appeared the Flyers were going to steal momentum when Mike Richards leveled Tomas Kopecky on the wall only 40 seconds before Briere's goal. But Braydon Coburn gave it back when he cross-checked Ladd nine seconds later.
The penalties evened out when Hossa was called for goalie interference with 40 seconds left in Coburn's penalty. Sharp got his goal 11 seconds before Coburn was allowed back on the ice, and then Ladd got his less than seven minutes later.
Chicago held a 27-13 advantage in shots on goal after two periods largely because it owned the play for the opening 19:33 of the first period. Penalties got in the way of what could have been a dominating first period on the scoreboard, too.
The Blackhawks took a 1-0 Byfuglien's power-play goal with 3:41 to play in the period, but Hartnell tied it up in the final minute when Brent Sopel was serving his second minor penalty of the period and the Hawks' third overall.
Sopel was called for interfering with Ville Leino away from the play.
Hartnell, who was lying down in front of the crease while Chris Pronger had the puck was at the top of the zone, got up and punched home the rebound of Briere's shot from the top of the left circle.
The Flyers couldn't get a shot on goal on either of their first two power plays, but managed three shots and a goal on their third.
Minutes before Hartnell scored, Chicago got on the board with some nifty and quick puck movement. Pronger was in the penalty box for his high-stick on Kris Versteeg. Like Sopel, it was Pronger's second minor of the period.
After clearing the puck out of a scrum on the right side, Duncan Keith fed Kane, who dished to down low to Toews by the right post. Toews' pass to the slot went off Leighton, but to Byfuglien in front. He banged it in to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Byfuglien's shot was the Hawks' 17th of the period. At the time the Flyers had only three.