Of course it went to overtime. If there’s been a theme to this playoffs, it’s that the first 60 minutes are there to setup the actual contest. Chicago’s 4-3 victory concluded the fourth day of the postseason, but we’ve already had six overtime contests.
For the second straight game, Chicago tied things up in the dying seconds of the third period. This time though, they were able to capitalize in overtime. Bryan Bickell ended up with the first and last goals of the game for Chicago. Not bad for a man who struggled offensively during the regular season.
Here’s some points to get the ball rolling.
- Antoine Vermette scored what would have been the game-winning goal as a direct result of the five-minute charging penalty on Andrew Shaw. Of course, with just 5.5 left in regulation time, Patrick Sharp tied the game to cancel out Vermette’s efforts.
- Martin Hanzal, who scored the overtime winner in Game 1, suffered an injury and didn’t stick around for the finale. The Coyotes already dodged a couple bullets after they got good news regarding potentially serious injuries to Radim Vrbata and goaltender Mike Smith. Will their luck hold out?
- Bickell netted a power-play goal for the Blackhawks at 3:05 of the first period. That’s one more power-play goal than he scored in 71 regular season contests.
- Dating back to last year, Corey Crawford has started in four consecutive overtime playoff games. He has a 2-2 record in those contests.