Ducks Fall to Blackhawks in Anticlimactic Game 7

The Anaheim Ducks allowed the first four goals as their Game 7 futility continued with a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals tonight at Honda Center.

Chicago captain Jonathan Toews scored twice in the opening 11 minutes, 55 seconds, Brandon Saad and Marian Hossa added second-period goals and Corey Crawford stopped 35 of 38 shots as the Blackhawks won the decisive game of the best-of-seven series and ended the Ducks’ bid for their third trip to the Stanley Cup Final in their 22-season history.

“We came out flying as a team,” Toews said. “We had contributions offensively across the board. It was our best game of the series, just continuing with that pressure.”

This is the third consecutive season the Ducks’ season has ended with a Game 7 loss. Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau has a 1-6 record in Game 7s, including an 0-3 mark with the Ducks. The Ducks are 2-5 in Game 7s.

“I’m not lying. It’s going to hurt for a while,” Boudreau said after completing the first conference finals he had coached in during his eight- season NHL coaching career. “We truly believe that we’re a different team and we had a really good chance of winning five more games,” a reference to winning the Stanley Cup.

Chicago’s four games to three victory in the series advances it to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in six seasons. The Blackhawks will face the Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning, with Game 1 of the best-of- seven series set for Wednesday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

One trend for the series continued -- the team scoring first won each game. Chicago’s Game 7 victory marked the first time a team had won consecutive games in the series. The Blackhawks forced a seventh game with a 5-2 victory in Game 6 Wednesday in Chicago.

The Ducks cut Chicago’s lead to 4-2 on goals by Ryan Kesler at 18:51 of the second period and Corey Perry at 11:36 of the third. The Blackhawks regained a three-goal lead when Brent Seabrook scored a power-play goal at 13:23 of the third, 34 seconds after Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler was called for hooking.

Matt Beleskey scored a power-play goal for the Ducks with 42 seconds remaining.

The Ducks led in shots, 38-26. Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen made 21 saves.

Chicago scored on two of its four power-play opportunities, the Ducks one of two.

Toews’ first goal came on Chicago’s third shot. His second came on the power play, 47 seconds after Ducks defenseman Jakob Silfverberg was penalized for hooking.

Hossa scored on a rebound off a shot by Brad Richards. The puck went off the blade of Hossa’s right skate and into the net. Video review determined Hossa did not make a deliberate kicking motion, which would have nullified the goal.

” They played better than us in Game 7,” Boudreau said. “Would that have made a difference? It might have. I don’t know. We might have not been in position to score if they don’t score.”

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City News Service