Chicago moves closer to another title
TAMPA, Fla. — The Chicago Blackhawks had barely filed up the tunnel to the visitors’ dressing room after another narrow victory in the Stanley Cup Finals when their thoughts turned to home.
With another tenacious road victory, this one by a 2-1 count over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, the Blackhawks realized they had just earned an opportunity to raise that silver trophy in front of their Chicago faithful Monday night.
“Never been in this spot,” Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said. “I’m sure it’ll be crazy in town over the next two days. I’m sure the buzz will be off the charts. Looking forward to it.”
Antoine Vermette scored the tie-breaking goal early in the third period, and the Blackhawks moved to the brink of their third NHL championship in six years.
“We try not to think too far ahead,” Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjal- marsson said, “but obviously, you’re just human.”
Corey Crawford made 31 saves and Patrick Sharp scored an early goal into an accidentally unguarded net, as the Blackhawks took a 3-2 series lead by surviving another night teetering on the smallest margins and mistakes. Ben Bishop stopped 27 shots after missing Game 4 with an undisclosed injury, but the goalie’s ill-advised venture outside the crease led to Sharp’s goal.
Each of fhe first five games has been decided by one goal for just the second time in Stanley Cup Finals history, and the first time in 64 years.
“We’re going to carry this momentum,” Crawford said. “We’re pretty excited about this right now, and (we want to) carry this over to the next game. We don’t want to get ahead of us, but it’s going to be real exciting going home.”
Bishop, bothered by a lower-body injury, decided to play after participating in the morning skate, and he appeared to be moving more fluidly than he did in Game 3. He still gave a goal to the Blackhawks in the first period when he roamed almost halfway to the blue line to play a puck and collided with teammate Victor Hedman. Sharp grabbed the loose puck and ended his 13game goal drought by skating around the two and chipping in the open-net gift.
“I feel bad for them, in the sense that I think they’ve deserved a little bit better than what we’re sitting right now,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said of his players. “But the one thing we are, we’re still alive. We’re not out. This isn’t the press conference to say we’re done. I don’t know. I think there’s happy days ahead for us. We’ve just got to push through this.”