Bickell's overtime goal pulls Blackhawks even
Originally published: Apr 14, 2012 - 9:14 pm
Chicago scored an early goal, Phoenix suffered another key injury in the first period but bounced back for a lead.
The similarities persisted up until the final seconds when like Game 1, the Blackhawks pulled their goalie and got a late goal to push the game to overtime.
That's where the similarities ended. Chicago's Bryan Bickell scored his second goal of the night at 10:36 of overtime lifting the Blackhawks to a 4-3 win, evening the series at 1-1.
Bickell started the scoring for the Blackhawks, beating Phoenix goalie Mike Smith just 3:05 into the contest, but once again the Coyotes responded. Playing without center Martin Hanzal, who left the game early in the first period with an apparent leg injury, the 'Yotes got goals from Raffi Torres and Antoine Vermette to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
The face of the game changed dramatically in the second frame. Chicago's Brandon Bollig beat Smith to tie the game 2-2. Just 14 seconds later, Chicago's Andrew Shaw laid a hit on Smith behind the Phoenix net as the goalie was trying to play the puck. Smith laid on the ice for several minutes while Shaw was issued a five- minute major for charging and a game misconduct.
Smith did eventually get up and stayed in the game, and Vermette took advantage, scoring his second power play goal of the night to give Phoenix a 3-2 lead that would stand up until the final seconds.
After Chicago pulled goaltender Corey Crawford, the Blackhawks turned up the pressure in the final minute of regulation. That pressure paid off as Patrick Sharp deflected a Brent Seabrook slap shot past Smith with 5.5 seconds to go, once again deflating the Jobing.com Arena crowd and setting the stage for Bickell's overtime heroics.
Game 3 of the series is Tuesday night at the United Center in Chicago.
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