NHL Three Stars: Blackhawks even series with Ducks in dramatic fashion
No. 1 Star: Antoine Vermette, Chicago Blackhawks
Vermette was displeased after being healthy-scratched in Game 3. In Game 4, he made sure Joel Quenneville would not make the same mistake again. Vermette was 14-6 on the face-off dot. Oh, and scored the game winner in double-overtime to even the series at two games each.
No. 2 Star: Brandon Saad, Chicago Blackhawks
After a career high season in points, Saad had been relatively non-existent on the score sheet in the playoffs with only 3 goals total prior to Game 4. Saad doubled his playoff point total with a 3-point night. He scored a short-handed goal and 2 assists in the Blackhawks win.
No. 3 Star: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
In the much discussed match-up between Toews and Ryan Kesler, Toews appeared to get the upper-hand on his counterpart. He had a goal and an assist, in addition to winning 65% of draws, many against Kesler (31%).
Honorable Mention: Duncan Keith is a robot. The defenseman played 40:39 and led Chicago in shots on goal with 7 … Freddie Andersen made 35 saves and Corey Crawford had 47 … Patrick Sharp and Andrew Shaw led the ‘Hawks with 9 hits each … Matt Beleskey topped the Ducks in SOG with 8. He scored 1 goal.
Did You Know: The Ducks scored 3 goals in 37 seconds in the third period. This is the second fastest 3 goal stint in Stanley Cup playoff history. The fastest team was the 1979 Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bonus DYK: The third goal by the aforementioned Leafs was assisted by … wait for it … Joel Quenneville. FULL CIRCLE!
Dishonorable Mention: Leading their respective teams in giveaways: Simon Despres (4) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (6) … Kimmo Timonen played 10:15, registering no points, 2 hits and 1 giveaway … In the first OT, Anaheim had 17 SOG to Chicago’s 5 … Anaheim continues to play with fire, penalty-wise. They gave Chicago 4 PP opportunities, and they converted on one.
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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter!
