CHICAGO - The game won't go into the Goaltending Time Capsule for future generations to marvel at, but the Chicago Blackhawks don't care.
Tiger Woods. Donald Sterling. Corey Crawford.
The face of infidelity. The face of bigotry. The face of get-outta-my-face.
What these three have in common: all were exposed by the muck-raking celebrity news website TMZ - Woods for his 2009 SUV crash and subsequently-revealed long list of mistresses, Sterling for the taped conversation with his now ex-mistress in which the L.A. Clippers owner revealed himself to be all kinds of xenophobe, and on Wednesday morning, the most dastardly of them all:
Crawford, for being the focus of a POLICE INVESTIGATION (!) after a heckler in Los Angeles filed a battery complaint against the Chicago Blackhawks goaltender for allegedly spraying him in the face with a water bottle.
It was a classic of a whole different kind, full of speed and hits and misses, and at the end of it, the defending champions were still kicking, having been handed sudden life in sudden-death overtime by, of all people, 37-year-old Michal Handzus.
Demoted from the second line while Chicago coach Joel Quenneville put Andrew Shaw at centre between Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad - a move that paid huge dividends - Handzus nonetheless was back in his old spot at 2:04 of the second extra period to end a wild-and-crazy 5-4 thriller that staved off elimination and sent the Western Conference final back to Los Angeles for a sixth game on Friday night.
The Kings still lead the series 3-2.
After a first overtime in which the two teams went end-to-end with a dazzling string of scoring chances, Handzus was utterly unmarked as he took Saad's pass in the slot and beat Jonathan Quick with a backhand deke, sending another capacity crowd at the United Center into delirium.
'I think I haven't played very well,' said Handzus. 'I'm playing on the (penalty kill) a lot, and we were giving up the goals. I didn't play very well offensively. I wasn't very happy with my play.
'Obviously I'm glad I came through. It's only one game. I know I got to get better. Hopefully it helps me.'
'There's going to be a hero in here, we kept saying,' said the 21-year-old Saad, who was the best player on either team. 'Luckily, we got one. I saw him for a second there and threw it. He handled it off his skate and made a great move.
'He's a leader out here and he does all the right things. It's nice to see him get rewarded.'
The Hawks, down to their last life, had blown a pair of two-goal leads and trailed into the third period before Ben Smith tied it early - banging home a fat rebound of Saad's shot that Jonathan Quick kicked right onto his stick - and then both teams held on to get to overtime.
With much of the day consumed by jokes about Chicago goalie Corey Crawford dousing an L.A. heckler with a water bottle on Monday night, both netminders were all wet in this one - first Quick and then Crawford giving up two goals on the first five enemy shots.
And the goals just kept going in.
The Hawks, who had been manhandled at centre by the Kings for most of the series, ended up getting eight points from Saad (two goals and an assist), Kane (three helpers) and Shaw (two assists).
'We had a big night,' said Saad. 'It feels good to get the offense going. We've had some chemistry in the past. I think we came out flying and working hard tonight. We have skill on our line. If we work hard the rest is going to take care of itself.'
Starting with a Brent Seabrook rocket on the power play, 73 seconds into the game with Drew Doughty in the box, the Hawks leaped out to 2-0 and 3-1 leads and looked ready to run the Kings out of the building.
Johnny Oduya swept home a juicy rebound of Kane's shot at 3:40 to make it 2-0, and the Madhouse was rocking.
But Jarret Stoll scored one for the Kings out of nowhere, shoveling home a rebound neither Crawford nor anyone else could find, and though Saad restored Chicago's two-goal lead at 11:06 (another rebound kicked onto his stick bv Quick), the Blackhawks' dominance began to wane.
Marian Gaborik finished off Anze Kopitar's feed on a 3-on-2 break to pull L.A. within one, and when the Kings swarmed all over the Chicago net at the end of the period, doing everything but tie it, the fans sent their heroes to the intermission with a nervous smattering of applause, almost as if they knew something.
Sure enough, the visitors leaped on two Chicago turnovers for the tying goal by Dustin Brown, a diving sweep of a Marian Gaborik rebound, and the go-ahead marker by Tanner Pearson.
The latter was a 35-foot wrister from his wrong wing that went past defender Niklas Hjalmarsson and handcuffed Crawford, whose series save percentage, at that moment, was an appalling .858.
Smith's goal was enough to get the game into overtime and set the stage for one of the great periods of hockey in these playoffs.
No goals were scored, but nearly eight minutes elapsed at one point without a whistle and the pace was exhilarating to watch, and must have been exhausting to play.
Now, another four-hour flight, and precious little time to recover. But the Hawks, 12-0 in Games 5, 6 and 7 over the past two playoff seasons, have got their confidence back.
'We wanted to leave it all on the ice,' said Saad. 'We just didn't want our season to end now.'
'We knew what we were up against,' said Kings' Justin Williams. 'We also know what's possible in the next two games. We're going home to try to win a game. Instead of being deflated, we're looking forward to it.'
Still, what's the old line about fighting the champ? You'd better knock him out when you get the chance.
'It's a tough building,' said L.A. coach Darryl Sutter. 'Damn near got it.' Vancouver Sun
Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/05/29/michal-handzus-give-blackhawks-new-life-against-kings-in-double-overtime/
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