Blackhawks vs. Ducks: Game 5 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 NHL Playoffs

The Anaheim Ducks are 60 minutes away from the 2015 Stanley Cup Final after registering a 5-4 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks Monday night in the Honda Center.

They narrowly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Anaheim led 3-0 after the first period and 4-2 deep into the third period. Then Jonathan Toews went off and tied the game with just 38 seconds remaining.

Forty-five seconds into overtime, though, Matt Beleskey was the hero, propelling the Ducks to a Game 5 victory. It was also the first time this postseason Chicago lost an overtime game:

Sometimes, a series has a natural ebb and flow where you can easily identify certain trends you can use to forecast how future games will unfold. When it comes to the Western Conference Final, however, it has been nearly impossible to get any sort of read on either team.

"This series is pretty amazing," said Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, per Greg Beacham of the Associated Press, via Yahoo Sports. "Every game is very close, very competitive. The road to trying to win the Cup has some amazing swings and highs, lows and twists and turns. The deeper you get in a series, it is all the more challenging."

Game 5 was a microcosm of the series as the Ducks looked to have the game well in hand before a furious fight back by the Blackhawks. When Chicago looked to be the side in the ascendancy, Anaheim flipped the script.

A little over five minutes into the game, Cam Fowler put Anaheim up 1-0 with a goal from the point.

Just 32 seconds later, Ryan Kesler doubled the Ducks' lead. The Blackhawks failed to clear the puck out of danger as the Ducks pressed them hard. Jakob Silfverberg wound up with possession and took a somewhat speculative shot, but Kesler got a stick on it to redirect the puck past a helpless Corey Crawford.

From Kesler's check on Kyle Cumiskey to his subsequent run in front of the goal, Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com felt the whole sequence was fantastic:

The Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Lazerus couldn't say enough about Kesler's redirection since Crawford had zero chance of stopping the puck:

Sami Vatanen added a third goal 14:37 into the first period to pile on the misery for Chicago. It came immediately after a faceoff as Ryan Getzlaf dumped the puck back to Vatanen, who unleashed a vicious slap shot past Crawford.

The assist put Getzlaf in a tie with himself in the franchise's postseason record book:

At that point, some wondered if Quenneville might pull Crawford. It would've been the wrong decision because without a few key saves from the goaltender, Chicago could've been down four or five goals in the first period.

With a three-goal cushion, the Ducks were a bit complacent in the second period. They played more to protect their lead rather than to score a couple more goals that really would've put the game out of reach for the Blackhawks.

Instead, Chicago got two goals of its own to make things interesting.

Teuvo Teravainen nabbed the first just 71 seconds into the period. You could lay the blame at the feet of Frederik Andersen, who should've done much better to stop the shot as Teravainen's wrister somehow sneaked past the Ducks netminder.

NHL.com's Brian Hedger feels that Teravainen has a bright future ahead:

The 20-year-old also played a key role in the Blackhawks' second goal, which came just 25 seconds from the end of the period. He displayed great vision and touch to find Brent Seabrook, who beat Andersen at the near post.

As much as the Blackhawks did to claw their way back into the game, Patrick Maroon looked to have undone all of their progress with a critical insurance goal to give Anaheim a 4-2 lead 5:15 into the third period. Getzlaf also recorded an assist on the play to best his previous team record for most points in a single postseason.

Bleacher Report's Dave Lozo was very critical of Patrick Sharp's effort on the play:

"

Patrick Sharp should get -5 on that Maroon goal.

— Dave Lozo (@DaveLozo) May 26, 2015"

But just when things began to look their most dire for Chicago, the Blackhawks' captain answered the call. Toews scored not one but two goals in the final 1:50 of regulation to tie the game and send it into overtime.

The second of Toews' goals was just filthy, as he somehow scored despite being nearly parallel with the goal line, via NHL on NBC:

ESPN's Linda Cohn felt the final sequence of the third period has seemingly become commonplace for Chicago:

As impressive as Toews' game-tying goal was, you had to criticize Andersen. There's almost no reason an NHL goaltender should allow a goal from that kind of angle. Couple that with Teravainen's tally and it wasn't a good night for the 25-year-old.

Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register felt that little led you to believe Andersen was in for such a disjointed performance:

Luckily for Andersen, Beleskey bailed him out in a big way. Andersen will have to answer some questions for a couple of Chicago's goals, but that task will be much easier to do after a Game 5 win.

Although the Blackhawks are now down 3-2 in the series, it's still way too early to count them out. It says a lot for Chicago's belief and confidence that it was even able to push Monday's game into overtime at all.

Still, the margin for error is minute for the Blackhawks from here on out.

Anaheim was its own worst enemy in Game 5, and throwing away a late two-goal lead might give the Ducks a renewed focus in Game 6, when they can close out the series on the road.