Morning Box Score: Blackhawks Force Game 6 With Convincing Win
By Chuck Sudo in News on May 26, 2013 2:30PM
If the Blackhawks can string together two more performances like Saturday night's Game 5 at the United Center, they can find themselves in the Western Conference Finals. The Hawks took the best hits the Red Wings could muster, turned the other cheek and suddenly found themselves with a blistering power play as they closed Detroit's series lead to 3-2 and forced Game 6 Monday at Joe Louis Arena. Bryan Bickell tallied the first goal for Chicago with a wrist shot 14:08 into the first period.
After a Daniel Cleary goal for Detroit at the 9:37 mark in the second period, the Hawks started to take advantage of the Wings' rough play. Andrew Shaw scored with a man advantage at the 13:08 mark and Jonathan Toews scored his first goal of the postseason on the power play at the 15:47 mark. More important, Toews didn't let repeated hits by Henrik Zetterberg and other Detroit players frustrate him. The Red Wings had four penalties in the period to Chicago's three, but the Hawks and Red Wings had to serve the penalty minutes together on two occasions.
The third period was all Chicago as they killed two power play opportunities and controlled the puck on both ends of the ice. Shaw scored his second goal of the game 6:58 into the period on a wrap-around past Wings goalie Jimmy Howard's blind side The Hawks outshot the Wings 17-4 in the final 20 minutes of play and held a 45-26 advantage in shots on goal. The Hawks defense was a major reason Corey Crawford wasn't tested for much of the game.
For a night, at least, all doubts about Toews's play were removed, and Captain Serious looked relieved after the game.
"We knew that our backs are against the wall," Toews said. "When you're down three games to one, you have to push back, you have to do something and we did. Every single guy answered the call. It's fun to play that way when everyone is chipping in and playing for each other. There's not much we can't do when we play like that. We'll carry it into the next one."
In local baseball, The White Sox beat Miami 2-1 thanks to another Jeff Keppinger walkoff single. Jake Peavy went the distance in getting the win. The Cubs, meanwhile, lost their sixth straight, 5-2 to Cincinnati. Travis Wood took the loss.