With a second round sweep of the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks are headed back into the Western Conference Championship. Here are the 9 best stats from their second round series.
Halfway there. Welcome to the Western Conference Final, @NHLBlackhawks. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/sflr2AVMkW
— NHL (@NHL) May 8, 2015
1. Conference Final Vets
Chicago has been a part of the Western Conference Finals in five of the last seven years, including this season they’ve been there for three straight years.
Stretching back as far as 2003, their five trips to the conference finals is the most of any team in the NHL.
2. Sweep the Leg Johnny
The Blackhawks never played from behind during their four-game sweep of the Wild. Despite the Wild have some strong possession and even playing better in some games, the Blackhawks had the lead or were tied the entire series.
3. Old friends
The second round sweep of Minnesota marks the third straight season Chicago knocked Minnesota out of the playoffs. It’s the first time a team has eliminated the same team in three consecutive years since Montreal ousted Ottawa in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
4. A Kane-ing
Patrick Kane is just the second player in team history to score a goal in every game of a four-game sweep. Dustin Byfuglien had previously done it against the San Jose Sharks in 2010. This season, Kane is one of two players to score in every game of the second round. Matt Beleskey is the other.
Put another way, Kane becomes the fourth player in team history to score in the first four games of a series with Byfuglien, Bobby Hull, and Steve Larmer being the others.
In the series against Minnesota, Kane crossed 100 career playoff points. He became only the fifth player in Blackhawks history to do so, joining Stan Mikita (150), Denis Savard (145), Hull (129), and Larmer (111) as the top Blackhawks in history.
In those 100 points are nine game-winning goals. Four of those game-winners have come against Minnesota.
5. Corey Corey Corey
A Game 4 win marked six straight postseason wins against the Wild for Corey Crawford. In that span he has a 1.46 GAA, .954 Sv%, and a shutout.
Crawford also made the jump from a tie for 34th all-time in playoff wins to 28th overall. On the way he passed Antti Niemi to have the fifth most playoff wins of any active goaltender.
6. Last-Minute Push
In Game 4, the Wild made a last-minute push to save their season, scoring two goals in the final five minutes. That made Marian Hossa‘s empty net goal the game-winner. It’s the first series-clinching empty net goal since April 28, 1991 when Bobby Smith scored one for the Minnesota North Stars against the St. Louis Blues.
7. Owning a Lead
The Blackhawks went 25-0-0 during the regular season when they were leading after two periods. This postseason they’re 5-0 in those scenarios.
In the Western Conference Championship, they’ll face an Anaheim Ducks team who has had the most third period comebacks of any team during the regular season (13) as well as the most during the postseason (4).
8. Teuvo Time
Teuvo Teravainen became the third youngest Blackhawk to score a postseason game-winner at 20 years and 232 days old. The only two who scored a game-winner at a younger age were Jeremy Roenick (who did it twice) and Bill Mosienko (1942).
9. How’s Your Bracket?
Among more than 800,000 entries for #NHLBracketChallenge powered by Samsung, 43.8% picked @NHLBlackhawks to advance to Western Conf. Final.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 8, 2015
More From This Series
- The 11 Best New York Rangers Stats From Round 2
- The 6 Best Tampa Bay Lightning Stats From Round 1
- The 7 Best Washington Capitals Stats From Round 1
- The 8 Best Montreal Canadiens Stats From Round 1
- The 6 Best Minnesota Wild Stats From Round 1
- The 8 Best Chicago Blackhawks Stats From Round 1
- The 6 Best Anaheim Ducks Stats From Round 1
- The 7 Best New York Rangers Stats From Round 1
- The 6 Best Calgary Flames Stats From Round 1
Thanks to the NHL and team PR Twitter accounts, as well as Elias Sports Bureau for some of the statistics.