Since being bumped to the first line midway through the Blackhawks’ series against the Vancouver Canucks, Dustin Byfuglien contineus to make coach Joel Quenneville look more and more like a genius. The giant power forward netted his 7th goal of the postseason in overtime of Game 3 on Friday night, giving Chicago a 3-0 stranglehold on the Western Conference Finals.
Another interesting storyline for the Blackhawks coming into the playoffs was the goaltending. Antti Niemi continues to prove he’s a very talented young goalie, capable of thriving under pressure and winning when it counts. The young Finn made 44 saves on Friday night, including 17 in the 3rd period. So far, aside from Jason Demers’ point shot that tipped in off Duncan Keith, the only Shark that has been able to beat Niemi this series has been Patrick Marleau. After scoring 2 goals in Game 2, Marleau matched that feat in Game 3, scoring his 6th and 7th goals of the playoffs, but, again it wasn’t enough to put the Sharks on top.
Marleau opened the game’s scoring with a powerplay goal early in the 2nd, creeping in from the point and knifing home a shot from the slot to give San Jose a 1-0 lead for the 2nd straight game. The Blackhawks were quick to answer with a powerplay goal of their own just a few minutes later, as Patrick Sharp even the score with the man advantage just 3 minutes later.
The score remained tied at 1-1 until late in the 3rd period, when Dave Bolland blocked a point shot in his own end and picked up the loose puck to streak in on a breakaway and beat Nabokov with a nice deke to put Chicago on top. Marleau set up overtime with his 2nd goal of the game a few minutes later, as the Sharks’ persistence finally paid off and he again found himself in the right place at the right time to flip a loose puck into the net off a rebound.
Unfortunately for the Sharks, in overtime, the Hawks came out with all guns blazing, outshooting San Jose 11-5 in the extra period. After Brian Campbell did a nice job of keeping the puck in the San Jose zone, Dave Bolland collected the puck behind th enet and found Byfuglien in his usual spot in front of the net, where he was able to whip a quick wrist shot past Nabokov to ignite a frenz at the United Center and give the Blackhawks a commanding 3-0 series lead.
While each game has been very close, the Hawks just seem to have that extra gear that kicks in during close games, as they have all year. In the playoffs, keeping a game close isn’t enough to win, and the Sharks are getting a firsthand lesson in that fact. While the series isn’t over yet, and we’ve already seen one team come back from 3 games down this year, I don’t see the Hawks blowing this one.
