Kane’s OT goals advances Blackhawks

Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn.

Patrick Kane scored on a backhand at 9:40 of overtime to lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 to clinch their second-round Western Conference series on Tuesday night.

Kris Versteeg scored at 1:58 of the first and Corey Crawford came up with tough save after tough save among his 34 stops for the Blackhawks, who advanced to the Western Conference finals to meet either Anaheim or Los Angeles. Anaheim leads that series 3-2 and Game 6 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Erik Haula scored and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots for the Wild, who pushed a frenetic pace for much of the night but missed prime chances to score.

They paid for it in the extra period, when a simple dump-in by Brent Seabrook took an unusual bounce back toward the slot. The puck slid past Peter Regin but not Kane, who deked once and flipped it into the net.

Kings-Ducks

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.

The Los Angeles Kings are facing their fifth playoff elimination game of the spring.

Given the way Los Angeles handled this situation four times in the previous round, the Anaheim Ducks are understandably wary.

“I love those opportunities,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said Tuesday. “I love the pressure. I know going into those games I’m going to be counted upon. Because we’re comfortable in that situation, we know exactly how desperate we have to play.”

After three consecutive wins in the first Freeway Faceoff postseason series, the Ducks are one victory away from their first trip to the Western Conference finals since their only Stanley Cup season in 2007.

But the Ducks realize the Kings have a Stanley Cup pedigree and an uncommon postseason resilience.

After winning four consecutive games to escape an 0-3 hole in the first round against San Jose, they only need to win tonight’s Game 6 at Staples Center — where the Ducks won twice earlier in the series — to force a seventh game back in Anaheim.