Blackhawks secure playoff berth with win over Canucks
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Jonathan Toews and Marcus Kruger each scored during the third period as the Chicago Blackhawks secured a playoff berth with a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
Teuvo Teravainen lit the lamp during the first period and Corey Crawford made 34 saves for the Blackhawks, who have won three in a row and clinched their seventh straight postseason appearance.
"We value these two points. They are meaningful," Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville said. "But we still have some work to do."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Derek Dorsett scored Vancouver's lone goal and Eddie Lack gave up all three goals on 38 shots in defeat.
"We both played tight defensively and both goalies played well," Canucks forward Henrik Sedin said. "We didn't score on our chances when we needed to."
The Blackhawks opened the scoring 6:51 into the contest. Kruger's shot was stopped in tight, but he corralled the rebound and sent the puck back to Teravainen, who beat Lack on a wrister from the right circle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dorsett tied the game took a turnover, skated to the right circle and wristed a shot over Crawford's blocker for a tied game with 1;14 left in the first period.
In the third, Johnny Oduya's shot rang off the crossbar and went off Lack in the crease before Toews tapped it in for a 2-1 lead 8:04 into the third.
Just over two minutes later, Kruger stole the puck off a Canuck in the neutral zone, raced into the offensive zone up the left side and slipped a backhander past Lack to give Chicago a two-goal advantage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lack was pulled with two minutes to play, but Vancouver was unable to force an extra session.
Game Notes
The Blackhawks improved to 34-8-2 when scoring first this season ... Canucks defenseman Yannick Weber fired a game-high eight shots on net ... Each team went 0-for-3 on the power play.