May 24, 2015

Game 3 healthy scratches pull Blackhawks even, Babcock/Leafs chatter, and Memorial Cup Day 2

It was a good thing that Joel Quenneville inserted Antoine Vermette into the lineup for Game 4 on Saturday.

After he was one of the prizes of the trade deadline, Vermette has been used sparingly by the Hawks, averaging just 13 minutes in ten games this postseason. But teams that go on long playoff runs will eventually need heroes to appear out of nowhere. So it was Vermette, who had been held without a point and was a healthy scratch for Game 3, who scored the game-winner at 5:37 of the second overtime period to give the Blackhawks a 5-4 win, which evens the Western Conference Final at 2-2.

This was a game in which one team would dominate the other over significant stretches. For example, the shot attempts at one point of the first period were 27-8 Hawks, but there was no score. Frederik Andersen was in the zone making important saves until Brandon Saad scored a shorthanded goal late in the first period.

Meanwhile, the Ducks scored not one, not two, but three goals in just 37 seconds shortly after the Hawks took a 3-1 lead in the third period. The Hawks then tied it three minutes later with a Patrick Kane power-play goal.

The Ducks also carried the play for much of overtime. At one point during the first overtime, the shots were 10-0 Ducks. The shots ended up as 17-5 for the Ducks after first OT and 21-7 Ducks for overtime in its entirety. But the hockey gods don't always reward the team that takes the majority of the shots. That's why it's called sudden death.

Brandon Saad broke out of his slump in a big way with the shorthanded goal and two assists. The shortie broke a six-game pointless drought for Saad. You may remember that Saad was a big-time playoff performer last season with 16 points in 19 games. If that was a reason for picking him in your playoff pool this season, he had come up small for you before tonight (3 goals and no assists in 13 previous games).

Like Vermette, Teuvo Teravainen was back in the Hawks' lineup after being a healthy scratch in Game 3. He not only assisted on Vermette's overtime winner, but he almost earned an assist by grabbing the puck on a backcheck, then dishing an exceptional pass to Patrick Sharp for a breakaway in the first OT.