Vancouver Canucks shut down Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2: NHL Play-off Recap
Mikael Samuelsson lit the lamp with the game-winner in the third period, as the Vancouver Canucks held on for a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks, in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarter-final
series, at the United Centre on Sunday night.
Christian Ehrhoff and Daniel Sedin each also hit the net and had an assist for Vancouver, while Roberto Luongo turned away 30 shots to earn the victory.
"It's my job, obviously, to make the save at key times," Luongo said. "Usually you get an adrenaline boost off that and obviously we were able to turn the tables and get two goals in the second."
Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp both found the back of the net for the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago, which went 2-for-7 on the power-play and can be eliminated in Game 4 on Tuesday. Corey Crawford
was strong between the pipes, but came up just short in the loss, stopping 23-of-26 shots.
The Blackhawks got on the board first on a power-play about seven minutes into the opening period, when Keith ripped a blast shot from the right point that sailed past Luongo for 1-0 lead.
Chicago were unable to convert on a 5-on-3 power-play and they went 1-for-4 on the man advantage later in the first period.
Vancouver knotted the game at 1-1 on a power-play at mid-way mark of the second period, when Ehrhoff fired a hard shot from between the circles that went floating past Crawford, who was unable to see the
puck as team-mate, Ryan Kesler, provided a screen in front.
The Canucks went on top, 2-1, just 54 seconds later. The play was set-up by Alexander Edler, who brought the puck down the left side of the ice, drew Crawford's attention and then swept a pass to a wide
open Daniel Sedin, who easily jammed the puck home with a low shot for his third goal of the series.
Vancouver’s forward Raffi Torres put the Blackhawks on the power-play, when he hit the Chicago's defender, Brent Seabrook, behind the net with less than eight minutes left in the middle period. The penalty
was two minutes for interference.
"Brutal. Major. Absolutely. He (the referee) missed it. We could have scored four goals on that play. Is it a suspension? I don't have to worry about that. The guy didn't even get through his first game
back off one. It's not my call."Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said.
Chicago capitalised on it with a little over seven minutes remaining in the second period. The goal came when Patrick Kane, who had positioned himself at the top of the right circle, sent the puck behind
the net, where Jonathan Toews took the puck and passed it in front to Sharp, who buried it into the net for a 2-2 deadlock.
Samuelsson finally wrapped up the win at 3-2 just less than seven minutes into the final session. It happened so when Ehrhoff let go a shot from the point, but it was saved and a rebound trickled out in
front. Henrik Sedin grabbed it and took a shot, but it was also blocked by Crawford. Samuelsson then backhanded the second rebound into the net.
Chicago then pulled Crawford out of the net for an extra skater with 1 1/2 minutes left, but Luongo was outstanding between the pipes, making seven saves in the third period to secure the victory.
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