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Matthew Bowen
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Chicago Blackhawks: Scott Darling and the Comeback
Ladies and Gentleman: Welcome to the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After a thrilling double overtime opening game in the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators first round matchup, one has to wonder…. does it get better than this?
From the very beginning, you could tell that Nashville wanted to establish their home ice advantage; it all started with a twist on the National Anthem.
Call it a difference in opinion – Blackhawks fans cheer wildly and loudly during the Anthem, while Nashville fans find this practice to be quite disrespectful. So how would Nashville combat this? By having everyone in yellow sing along. Nashville didn’t stop there with their “Keep the Red Out” campaign, only allowing season ticket holders to purchase extra playoff tickets, followed by only selling tickets in local grocery stores, and lastly, when tickets were made available online, they would only be for fans in Nashville’s television market.
If there were any Hawk fans cheering during the Anthem, they were quickly quieted by a relentless Nashville attack. Colin Wilson got the scoring started for the Predators with a little help from quite possibly the most hated Blackhawk on the roster, Michal Roszival.
Former Blackhawk Viktor Stalberg gave Nashville a 2-0 lead when he took advantage of a Corey Crawford miscue behind the Chicago net. Crawford skated behind his net to play a puck but had it poked away by Calle Jonrok; Stalberg collected the loose puck and deposited it into the empty net. Nashville would strike one more time in the first frame, when Colin Wilson redirected a Seth Jones shot from the point while on the power-play.
If you are a Hawks fan, you have seen this before – a team that looks flat and plays with no fire. Would the team fold up shop and try it again in game two or would they flip the switch?
(Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
The Comeback
After allowing three goals on twelve shots, Corey Crawford would find a spot on the bench and Scott Darling would take his place behind the pipes. What could be viewed as a desperate attempt at lighting a fire turned into one of the greatest performances by a goaltender making his post-season debut.
Chicago wasted little time to get on the board in the 2nd period with defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson taking a sweet pass from Teuvo Teravinen in front of the net to put it past Predator netminder Pekka Rinne. Seven minutes later, Patrick Sharp struck on a 5-3 power-play to cut the lead down to one. Patrick Kane, playing in his first game since Feb. 28th, set Sharp up in front for the primary assist. The much maligned power-play unit would strike again six minutes later when Jonathan Toews drove the puck straight at Rinne and snuck it between his five-hole.
After playing scoreless hockey in the 3rd period and first overtime frame, Chicago would cap off the improbable comeback in the 2nd overtime. Marian Hossa battled on the boards for the puck and spotted Duncan Keith on the point; using a nifty bank pass, he fed the puck to the Hawk defenseman and let him take it from there. Using a Jonathan Toews screen, Keith slapped a shot past Rinne on his glove side to give Chicago a 1-0 series lead.
(Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports)
Lemont Native Scott Darling and the Goalie Controversy
While the Chicago comeback had people talking, Scott Darling’s performance had them screaming from the rooftops. In his first post-season appearance in his young career, Darling shut Nashville down and stirred up quite the discussion in the Windy City.
After only facing four shots in the 2nd period, Darling would see an astounding 38 shots over the third period and overtime stanzas. It was in the 3rd period though that Darling made the save of his career so far:
After the game, many fans were clamoring for Darling to start the next game, thinking that going with the hot hand between the pipes would be in the Hawks’ best interest. While Darling singlehandedly kept Chicago in the game, Coach Joel Quenneville named Corey Crawford his starter for Game 2 on Friday night, a decision that I personally feel is the right one.
Crawford put the team on his back when Patrick Kane went down, keeping Chicago in the thick of the Central race. While Darling may be the flavor of the day, Crawford has been the flavor of the year. The team will rally around their netminder and one bad period does not undo a season of success.
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