Los Angeles: Patrick Kane scored the game winner and assisted on the tying goal as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 to force game seven in the Western Conference finals.
After a slow start to the series, Kane broke through with seven points in the last two contests for Chicago, who levelled the best-of-seven playoff set at 3-3.
“The last two games have been pretty wild, to say the least,” said the American Olympian, who had just one point in his first four games of the series. “We are happy we’ve got the win, but it doesn’t mean anything yet.”
Waiting for the Blackhawks or Kings is the New York Rangers, who reached the NHL finals for the first time since 1994 by beating the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Thursday to win their series in six games.
Bryan Bickell and Duncan Keith also scored on Friday for the defending National Hockey League champion Blackhawks, who have rallied from a 3-1 deficit for the second consecutive postseason and can reach the finals once more with a win on Sunday at the United Centre arena.
Goaltender Corey Crawford made 26 saves for Chicago, who improved to 9-1 at home in the postseason.
The Blackhawks are trying to become the first team to win consecutive NHL titles since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998.
Dwight King, Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez scored for the Kings, who became just the third team in NHL history to have their first three playoff series advance to a seventh game in one playoff year.
Jonathan Quick stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who have failed in their last two attempts to close out Chicago.
The Blackhawks have come back from down 3-1 to win a series only once in their history, but it was last spring against Detroit, which won three of the first four games against Chicago in the Western Conference semi-finals before losing the final three games. The Blackhawks also needed overtime to win and eliminate Detroit.
Kane rose to the challenge to spark the ‘Hawks to victory Friday. His nifty pass on the left wing connected to Keith who wristed a shot past Quick to tie the game 3-3 with 8:26 left in the third period.
Kane struck once more about five minutes later. He trailed a Brandon Sa’ad rush on the right wing, before collecting a back pass and moving into the middle, where he beat Quick with a wrist shot to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 lead with 3:45 left on the clock.
Quick was sent to the bench for an extra attacker, and the Kings’ last chance from Marian Gaborik in the waning seconds was blocked by Chicago defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson who then batted the bouncing puck out of harm’s way.
