Anaheim Ducks Narrowly Defeat The Chicago Blackhawks In A Game 5 Overtime
In a stunning 5-4 overtime win, the Anaheim Ducks took a 3-2 series lead over the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL Western Conference Finals, the L.A. Times reported. Ducks’ Ryan Kesler said about going into overtime,
“We were mad coming in here. When this team gets mad, we make strides on the ice. You can see right off the bat. We were mad, we played mad and we scored right away. Good game. We wanted to end it earl hand throw everything at them right away.”
Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews said about Game 5,
“You never want to go down three goals right off the bat. I think we always show that we can always dig ourselves out of those holes. We did it tonight and still find a way to push it to overtime. I think going into overtime we were feeling that the game was in our hands and we’re going to get that next break so it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t take advantage of it.”
The Ducks took a commanding lead and held off the Blackhawks for much of the game. The Blackhawks, though, found a way to keep themselves in it, scoring two goals in the last two minutes of regulation, the Associated Press reported.
Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville said about Game 5,
“That was a great comeback and great second, great third. Amazing finish and tough in the overtime. But certainly we didn’t start on time for the first time in this series. They talked about being ready and it might have been the difference. But great comeback.”
With the game going to extra periods, the Ducks’ Matt Beleskey scored the game winning goal, going airborne to do so. He was able to score on goalie Corey Crawford in the first 45 seconds of the overtime. Anaheim Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf said about how his team felt going into overtime,
“When you initially get in, everyone is down, talking about giving up two goals in the last two minutes of the game. It’s not fun for anybody, but the biggest thing we try to preach is to keep going. Keep doing what we’re doing and learn from our mistakes. We’ve had two overtime games against [the Blackhawks] that we’ve lost, and in those games we went into overtime trying not to lose. We went out there and executed what we wanted to do. We came up with a big play early on.”
The Ducks are now a win away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final with the momentum in their favor, as they had in the beginning of the series, as reported by the Inquisitr. Game 6 will be on Wednesday in Chicago, where the Blackhawks will have a chance to avoid elimination.
[Photo credit: Harry How/ Getty Images Sport]
