The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout by a final score of 3-2 in the regular-season finale.
The Blackhawks were awarded an early 4-minute power play when Riley Sheahan was handed a double-minor penalty for high-sticking Jimmy Hayes, but failed to convert.
Viktor Stalberg opened up the scoring midway through the first period finding himself at the doorstep scoring his 22nd goal of the year giving the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.
With time winding down in the second period, Andrew Shaw buried his 12th goal of the season on a nice feed from Patrick Sharp just as the Red Wings penalty expired extending Chicago’s lead to 2-0.
Detroit killed off a penalty early in the third period, and minutes after, Johan Franzen broke Corey Crawford’s shutout bid sneaking a shot past him from a bad angle cutting Chicago’s lead in half 2-1. The Blackhawks are the only team in the NHL this year that did not record a single shutout, and it was the first time since 1988-1989 that they went an entire year without one.
Under a minute left to go, Detroit sends out their 6th attacker and Tomas Holmstrom backhands a pass to Pavel Datsyuk who’s standing right in the crease to tap-in the game-tying goal.
Overtime wasn’t enough to decide a winner, so the game was sent to a shootout where Patrick Kane recorded the only goal that you’ll probably see on Sportscenter later tonight.
Corey Crawford was sensational all game long stopping 30 of 32 shots, including a perfect 3 of 3 in the shootout.
Thanks to @PK9 on Twitter for this statistic: Corey Crawford finishes the regular-season with an 8-1-2 record, 1.85 GAA and .921 SV% (232-of-252) over his final 11 appearances.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Now, the Blackhawks play the waiting game. They are officially locked in at the 6th seed in the Western Conference and will face the winner of the Pacific Division. See below for details.
Playoff Scenarios:
- Phoenix clinches the Pacific Division with a win tonight vs Minnesota.
- If Phoenix loses in regulation, the Blackhawks will take on the winner of the Sharks vs Kings.
- If Phoenix loses in overtime and the Kings defeat the Sharks in regulation or overtime, Los Angeles wins the Pacific Division. However, if the Kings win in a shootout, Phoenix wins the division based on having one more non-shootout victory this season.
- If Phoenix loses in overtime and the Sharks defeat the Kings, the Coyotes win the division based on having more non-shootout victories than San Jose.
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