Chicago Blackhawks Advance!

Monday night, the Chicago Blackhawks travelled to a desperate and banged up Calgary for a sixth game of their playoff series. The young Hawks needed just one win to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Something the Chicago franchise hadn't done in 13 years.

On a night that would figure to be all about defense for the leading Blackhawks, it was Nikolai Khabibulin repaying his defenders great effort from Game Five by stopping more than 40 shots in a well played 4-1 victory.

The offense wasn't what Hawks fans have come accustomed to, as the Hawks were outshot in each period by a wide margin. In fact, at one point in the first period the Hawks had scored on two of their four shots on goal.

Calgary was playing without Deon Phaneuf, who was out with an injury suffered in a hit by Troy Brouwer in Game Five. The absence didn't effect the Flames attempts on Khabibulin, but had a noticeable effect on the physical play by the home team. The scrapping after the whistle was substantially less than in the previous five games.

The Blackhawks again received offensive contributions from the blue line as Brian Campbell scored the third goal of the night for the victors. Also scoring for Chicago were Patrick Kane, Adam Burish, and Dustin Byfuglien.

It was good to see Kane get the puck in the net to start the scoring. He has not been the same player since a hard hit in Detroit at the end of December, but had been skating well over the last few weeks. He had been shooting high and had been shying away from contact at the end of the regular season.

Kane had also taken a number of hard hits against Calgary, with one in Game One from Rene Bourque knocking a few bells around between the defending Calder Trophy winner's ears. He also missed Game Three because of an apparent bout with the flu.

But on Monday night Kane skated with authority and put his second goal of the series into the net. If Kane skates and shoots with the authority he displayed in November and December, he makes the dynamic offense of the Hawks more versatile.

Byfuglien made perhaps the strongest statement of any player on the Hawks in the series, having analysts, coaches, and players in every market noticing his physical presence and puck handling ability. Throughout this season there were times that Hawks fans were down on "Big Buff," but he proved to be an invaluable member of the team by playing arguably the best hockey of his life over the last two weeks.

So now the youngest team in the NHL moves on to play the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the playoffs. There will be analysis of that series to come.

It's a great day to be committed to the Indian as the Chicago Blackhawks are going to play games that matter in May!