Chicago Blackhawks Win 2-1 in Game One, Continue Race to Stanley Cup

Antti Niemi showed the world , on Saturday, that the Blackhawks aren’t going to slow down until they win the Stanley Cup, and neither is he. Niemi had arguably his best game of his career stopping 44 of the 45 shots San Jose took and by having a .977 save percentage on the night.

Niemi also had a much bigger chip on his shoulders in this game compared to any other game in this years playoffs because of how disappointing the Blackhawks defense played. Five times the defense of the Blackhawks committed dumb penalties that almost cost them the lead and in one instance, it led to the first goal, by Jason Demers.

Of all the dumb penalties though, one hurt them the most and that was the tripping penalty committed by Dave Bolland (Although Kris Versteeg got called for it) in the final minute of the game. During the final minute, Niemi had to once again save the Blackhawks by blocking shots left and right and securing the game.

Lets not give all the credit to Niemi though, his offense stepped up when they needed to and helped erase San Jose’s early 1-0 lead by scoring two unanswered goals. The first goal for the Blackhawks was by Patrick Sharp in the second period to help tie the game at 1-1. Then, with 6:45 left in the game, Dustin Byfuglien took a pass from Patrick Kane, off a faceoff, and scored a goal to end the tiebreaker.

Even though Niemi did have a better game and got the win, Evengi Nabokov had a stellar game as well for the Sharks. Nabokov made a lot of impressive saves throughout the game and did his best to help the Sharks. The one thing that did differed from Nabokov’s game and Niemi’s game was that Nabokov wasn’t faced with any moments with his team down a man. Niemi had to play almost 10 minutes without one man.

The one player that was most unimpressive throughout the game was Sharks Center Joe Thornton. Thornton played his worst playoff game this year by doing absolutely nothing against the unimpressive itself, Blackhawks defense.

Thornton only had one shot on goal during the game and didn’t do too much offensively. He also was a cause for one goal because Dustin Byfuglien’s goal wouldn’t have been scored without Jonathon Toews winning the faceoff against Thornton.

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