Wild finish to Hawks’ clincher
Corey Crawford made 34 saves, Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, and the Chicago Blackhawks advanced to the Western Conference finals after a 4- 3 victory over host Minnesota on Thursday gave them a four- game sweep.
Goals by Jared Spurgeon and Nino Niederreiter with 2: 18 and 1: 27 left gave the Wild one last shot, with their net emptied. The final few whacks were either wide or turned aside by Crawford, who stopped 124 of 131 shots in the four games.
It was the first playoff sweep by Chicago since the 2010 West finals against the Sharks.
“They want to be successful,” Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said of his players. “They want to find ways to win, and in the end, they want to be champions.”
Brent Seabrook, Andrew Shaw and Marian Hossa also scored for the Blackhawks, who were down to five defensemen after Michal Rozsival suffered an ankle injury.
Rozsival was hurt in the second period as he turned to defend Thomas Vanek at the Chicago blue line. Vanek ended up with a breakaway, but Crawford went with Vanek’s deke to his backhand and brushed aside the shot with his blocker. Rozsival was helped off the ice.
Following the game, Quenneville told the Chicago Tribune, “It doesn't look good.”
Chicago eliminated Minnesota from the playoffs for the third straight year.
“Obviously, that’s not the way we wanted it to end,” Vanek said.