The Chicago Blackhawks finished their series comeback, from a 3-1 deficit, and also finished off the Detroit Red Wings, Wednesday night in Chicago. The Blackhawks won the last 3 games of the series, to win the series in 7 games. Game 7 ended 3:35 into overtime, when Brent Seabrook scored to end the series.
The Blackhawks thought they had taken a 2-1 lead with 1:49 remaining in the third period, but a terrible call by referee Stephen Walkom took the goal away. A second or two before Nilklas Hjalmarsson scored the goal for Chicago, Walkom had stopped the play because of roughing calls on Kyle Quincey of Detriot, and Brandon Saad of Chicago. When the call was made, he stopped the play, and the goal was disallowed. The roughing was unrelated to the rush up ice that resulted in the goal. The penalties should have been called, but the goal should have counted.
I immediately thought of the terrible non-calls that happened in the the Red Wings favor, in the previous series against the Anaheim Ducks. The most blatant was a Game 2 trip on a breakaway that should have resulted in a penalty shot for Andrew Cogliano. However, the Ducks weren’t given the penalty shot, or even a minor tripping penalty. The Ducks should have won Game 2, which they lost in overtime, and won that series in 5 games, because they were up 3 games to 2, even after being robbed. I know when the Ducks won the Stanley Cup 6 years ago, the television ratings were pretty low, but does the NHL really want the Red Wings in the finals badly enough to cheat so severely? At least the Blackhawks did end up winning this game in overtime.
Chicago had the best record in the NHL the whole season, starting with no regulation losses in their first 24 games of the season. Exactly half of the strike-shortened season came and went, before the Blackhawks, who now hold the record for the best start to a regular season, lost on March 8th to the Colorado Avalanche 6-2. They finished the season with a 36-7-5 record, which gave them the top seed in the Western Conference.
It looked like a Chicago Blackhawks-Pittsburgh Penguins match-up for the finals, but the Blackhawks struggled mightily against the Red Wings in the first four games of this series. Now the conference finals are set. The Blackhawks will play the defending champion Los Angeles Kings, who just finished off the San Jose Sharks in a 7 game series of their own, in the Western Conference Finals. The Pittsburgh Penguins will face the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Penguins took out the Ottawa Senators in 5 games, while the Boston Bruins also needed only 5 games to eliminate the New York Rangers.
This is only the second time in history that the conference finals will consist of the last 4 defending Stanley Cup Champions. The Penguins won the championship in 2009. The Blackhawks won in 2010. The Bruins skated off with the cup in 2011, and the Kings won last year. In the Eastern Conference, I see the Penguins prevailing against the Bruins, probably in 6 games. I think the Western Conference Finals will go the full 7 games. Since goalies are of utmost importance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I see the Kings winning, since they have the best goalie, Jonathan Quick. Quick is matching his MVP performance of last year’s playoffs so far.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
