For a team led by young stars, the Chicago Blackhawks have been nothing short of dominant on the road this postseason. Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday afternoon was apparently no different than their last 3 games in Vancouver, as the Hawks scored a late goal in the 3rd and withstood a late push from the Sharks to take a 1-0 series lead.
Antti Niemi made a whopping 44 saves at the Shark Tank, including all 32 San Jose shots in the last 40 minutes, stymieing the Sharks at every turn and helping the Blackhawks stay in the game long enough to let their potent offense do its work. Against an offensively gifted team like San Jose, your best player often has to be your goalie, and tonight, Niemi was that best player, earning the game’s first star and helping Chicago kill 4 of their 5 minor penalties, including one in the final minute that ended up being a two-man advantage with Nabokov on the Sharks bench.
Defenseman Jason Demers was the only Shark who beat Niemi all afternoon, when his point shot on a powerplay midway through the first ticked off of Duncan Keith’s body and changed direction before bulging the twine. In the 2nd, Patrick Sharp drew the Hawks even with his shot from just inside the blueline that looked like it caught Nabokov offguard and snuck between his legs. With three Hawks already deep in the zone and both San Jose defensemen backed in deep, Nabokov clearly wasn’t expecting Sharp to snap the puck on net.
The score remained tied for the next 25 minutes, as both Nabokov and Niemi made some great saves, but big Dustin Byfuglien scored his 5th goal of the playoffs just past the 13 minute mark of the 3rd(all 5 goals have come on the road). Captain Jonathan Toews won a clean faceoff draw over to Pat Kane who fed Big Buff in the slot. The big power forward recognized that he didn’t have much time, with a San Jose defenseman coming out to block the shot, and shortened his wind up on a slap shot to get it off in time and beat Nabokov for the game winner.
San Jose did an excellent job of maintaining their discipline throughout the game and didn’t take a single minor penalty, keeping the lethal Chicago powerplay off the ice all night, but they were unable to take advantage of 4 of their own powerplay opportunities and will have to win Game 2 to avoid falling behind 2-0 on home ice.
