SCF Game 5: Blackhawks Move Within One Win Of Stanley Cup

The Chicago Blackhawks guaranteed that either there will be a game 7 on Wednesday night at home, or there will be a Stanley Cup Parade in the streets of Chi-town mid-week with a 3-1 win over the Bruins.  Both teams lost important players to injury during the hard-fought game, but when the dust settled, the Blackhawks took a 3-2 series lead and moved within a win of their second Stanley Cup in 4 years.

Patrick Kane had a late first period goal and added an early second period marker, while Dave Bolland iced it with an empty netter to lead the Hawks to victory.  Corey Crawford made 24 saves for the win, getting beat only by a Zdeno Chara point shot early in the third that made it 2-1 and created drama for the rest of the period.

Jun 22, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks players celebrate after game five of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins at the United Center. The Blackhawks won 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Scott Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

Boston lost centre Patrice Bergeron early in the second period as he was taken to hospital with an undisclosed injury, while Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews remained on the bench for the entire third period with an upper body injury.  Bergeron’s status for Monday’s game 6 is not yet known, but Joel Quenneville expected that Toews would be ready to go for the potential clinching game.

Tuukka Rask made 30 saves for the Bruins, but it wasn’t enough as both he and Crawford bounced back from allowing an uncharacteristic 11 combined goals on Wednesday night in a Chicago 6-5 OT win.

With the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Marcus Kruger seemed to get away with taking the feet out from under Bruins defenseman Torey Krug allowing the Hawks to get out of their own zone and led to Bolland’s empty netter as the officials put their whistles away in a penalty free third period.