Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks face-off for Game 6 of their best-of-seven Western Conference Final series live from the United Center in Chicago as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Anaheim looks to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning it all in 2007 while Chicago hopes to win another home game to force Game 7 back in California.
This series has been very dramatic with the Ducks taking Game 1 by a 4-1 score and the Blackhawks bouncing back with a 3-2 triumph in triple overtime. Anaheim then won Game 3, 2-1, and Chicago responded with a 5-4 victory, this time in double overtime. In Game 5, the Blackhawks rallied late to tie the game, but the Ducks won it in overtime 5-4 to take a 3-2 lead.
Game 6 can be live streamed for free here.
Matt Beleskey corralled a rebound 45 seconds into overtime and found the back of the net for the seventh time this postseason to propel the Ducks to victory in Game 5 on Monday. It marked the first time the Blackhawks lost in the extra frame this postseason.
Cam Fowler (2), Ryan Kesler (6) and Sami Vatanen (3) staked Anaheim to a 3-0 lead in the first period of Game 5.
Teuvo Teravainen (2) and Brent Seabrook (5) then tallied to bring the Blackhawks within 3-2 in the second stanza. Patrick Maroon (6) then gave Anaheim a 4-2 lead in the third before captain Jonathan Toews scored his sixth and seventh goals within the final two minutes of regulation to tie the game up dramatically and force overtime.
Moving onto Game 6, the Ducks are just one win away from getting to the Stanley Cup Final as Bruce Boudreau has coached a club to the conference final for the first time in his career and is knocking at the door of crossing the threshold into the Cup final for the first time.
"Yeah, I mean, I give my head a shake sometimes," Boudreau said per NHL.com. "It is close. Sometimes you don't realize. You say you're one game away [from] playing for the Stanley Cup. I try not to think about that. It's difficult, but you got to stay in the moment. You got to stay focused at what's at hand. If you start thinking ahead, usually bad things happen."
Ryan Getzlaf leads the NHL with 17 playoff assists and a plus-10 rating while pacing Anaheim with 19 points. Corey Perry is second on the Ducks with 17 points off of a club-best nine tallies and eight helpers and Jakub Silfverberg (4-12--16), Kesler (6-6--12) and Vatanen (3-7--10) have also been productive. Patrick Maroon also has six markers in these playoffs.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are 3-1 under coach Joel Quenneville all-time when trailing a series 3-2 heading into Game 6, dating back to 2009.
"It's something we know we've done before," Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad told NHL.com. "We know when we're in tight situations like this, we've got a veteran group that's been through it, and we know how to win games."
Toews and Patrick Kane have plenty of postseason experience, and they are Chicago's top two scorers.
Toews leads the Blackhawks with 16 points off of seven goals and nine assists while Kane has a team-best nine tallies and has added six helpers for 15 points. Duncan Keith paces the team with 11 assists while Patrick Sharp (4-8--12) and Marian Hossa (2-9--11) have been solid forces.
In between the pipes, Chicago turns to Corey Crawford and he is 7-4 with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage thus far this spring.
Anaheim counters with Frederik Andersen in the crease and he is 11-3 this postseason with a 2.06 GAA and a .925 save percentage.
The Ducks look to wrap things up on the road while the Blackhawks hope to force Game 7 when the puck drops on Western Conference Final Game 6 live tonight from the United Center in Chicago.
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