Cam Fowler celebrates a goal early in the first period of what turned into another classic with the Ducks prevailing over the Hawks 5-4 in overtime on Matt Beleskey’s winner at 45 seconds following two Jonathan Toews goals in the final two minutes allowing Anaheim to take a 3-2 series lead over Chicago.
AP Photo by Mark J. Terrill/Getty Images

In an absolute mind trip that just ended, the Ducks won a wild Game 5 over the Hawks taking it in front of the home crowd 5-4 in overtime. The hero was Matt Beleskey who scored 45 seconds into overtime to give his team a three games to two lead in the Western Conference Final. With a win in Chicago Wednesday, the Ducks can return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2007 when they won it.

A game that looked like a cakewalk for Anaheim turned into a nail biter thanks to some Chicago heroics from Hawks captain Jonathan Toews. He scored twice in a 72-second span erasing a 4-2 Ducks lead in the final two minutes of regulation to send it to sudden death.

The amazing aspect is that such a game required OT. The Ducks so dominated the first period that they outscored the Hawks 3-0 and didn’t allow a shot until there was under four minutes left in the first period. They dominated from the outset getting goals from Cam Fowler and Ryan Kesler 32 seconds apart. Fowler finishing off a Nate Thompson feed through a screen and Kesler with a ridiculous redirect of a Jakob Silfverberg shot putting them up by two and forcing Hawks coach Joel Quenneville to use his timeout.

It didn’t help with the Ducks continuing to pour it on. Off a clean faceoff win from Ryan Getzlaf, defenseman Sami Vatanen rifled one from the right point past Corey Crawford, who wasn’t quite set for a three-goal lead. It looked like they would cruise to a easy win outshooting the Hawks 11-3 in as lopsided a period as you’ll see at this late stage of the postseason.

Instead of giving up, the Hawks showed their playoff mettle by rallying the last two periods from a three-goal deficit and two-goal hole to tie the score. Teuvo Teravainen surprised Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen with a no-look wrist shot that eluded him five-hole cutting the deficit to 3-1 just 1:11 into the second. Suddenly, it was all Chicago with them able to make long tape to tape passes and use their speed to get quality chances on Andersen including a dangerous Toews chance one-on-one in which the Ducks netminder stoned him. Duncan Keith also nearly set up Patrick Kane with a backdoor feed just missing connection.

Chicago still trailed by two with under a minute left in the second until Teravainen made a nice pass from behind the net for Brent Seabrook who was able to beat Andersen with a quick snap shot short side cutting the deficit to 3-2 at 19:35. The Hawks outshot the Ducks 13-5 turning it around. After being outshot 10-0 at one point, they owned a 16-6 advantage evening the shots at 16 apiece.

The Hawks continued to press the attack in the third with Clayton Stoner going off for hooking. But the Ducks penalty kill didn’t allow a Chicago shot doing a good job shot blocking. For the night, they rejected 21 shots including seven from Simon Despres and four from Fowler. Andersen was able to make some good stops to keep his team in front.

Eventually, the Ducks got a second wind and finally started turning the ice with their more physical forecheck forcing a Hawks turnover at the blueline. Kimmo Timonen failed to clear the puck and Patrick Sharp turned it over to a pinching Getzlaf, who fed Vatanen creating a two-on-one down low with Vatanen perfectly threading the needle to a wide open Patrick Maroon for a tap-in with Seabrook on all fours. The goal came with 5:15 remaining restoring a two-goal lead. But it wasn’t enough to fluster the Hawks.

Instead of panicking, the experienced former Stanley Cup winner got off the mat in epic fashion. As if this series wasn’t good enough with the Ducks in the last game scoring three goals in 39 seconds only to lose in sudden death, the Hawks rallied from 4-2 down in the final two minutes. Both times, Quenneville pulled Crawford for an extra attacker. Toews scored with 1:50 left when he one-timed a perfect Marian Hossa feed past Andersen from Keith cutting it to one. Then, with Crawford again on the bench, the brilliant Chicago captain got to a dump in the corner and from a sharp angle fired one off Andersen and in to tie it at 19:22.

An incredible sequence that stunned Honda Center. The Ducks tried to get the winner before the end of regulation but Crawford got a piece of a shot. In OT, I had the feeling it would end early. But even earlier than expected when a Hawks turnover caught them in a change allowing Silfverberg to transition to Kesler for a two-on-one with Beleskey. Kesler wisely shot low with the rebound caroming off Crawford right to Beleskey for an easy put away sending the Ducks off the bench at 45 seconds of OT.

What do they have in store for us in Game 6? We’ll find out.