Dustin Byfuglien has emerged as a force for the Chicago Blackhawks, and now he takes his game to a higher level. He and his teammates are on their way to the Stanley Cup finals.
Byfuglien scored his third go-ahead goal for the Western Conference Finals, converting a third-period power play as Chicago together to beat Sharks 4-2 Sunday, completing a four-game sweep that sent the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992nd
"Seems like he likes the spotlight. He likes to be the hero. He stood up in the big time," said teammate Patrick Sharp said. "He told me in third period, he should be the guy to go get it. True his word, he got it."
Chicago will play either Montreal or Philadelphia and be looking for their first NHL title since 1961, more than two decades before many of the current players were born.
"It's an honor to go to the Stanley Cup. We got a very good team over there. It was not easy," said Byfuglien.
The 257-pounder was parked in front of the net with seven seconds left on the power play. He took a nice pass from Patrick Kane and knocked the puck past Evgeni Nabokov to give the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead at 2:05 of the final period.
"I got my stick in front of an open network, and sleighs gave me a nice little feed," said Byfuglien.
Relocation Byfuglien to the top line with Kane and Jonathan Toews captain was one of coach Joel Quenneville better adjustments.
Kris Versteeg added an empty-net goal with 42 seconds left, and red-clad fans at United Center overwrought, littering the ice with souvenir towels.
Byfuglien also had the game-winner Friday night in overtime as Chicago won 3-2 at three games. He put the Blackhawks in front to stay with a goal in their 2-1 victory in the opener and scored a goal in all four Blackhawks' win over the Sharks. He has eight goals this post season.
"When you play with them two children, the pucks find you when you're not expecting it," Byfuglien said to be matched with Kane and Toews.
It was another disappointing end for the Sharks who won the conference regular season with a point over Blackhawks. San Jose outshot Chicago in three of four games but could not get a victory, scoring seven goals in the series.
"There is a degree of frustration with how we approached this whole series," San Jose defender Rob Blake said. "We put ourselves in position to be successful throughout the season and we did not achieve what we needed."
Logan Couture scored in the first period and Patrick Marleau had a shorthanded goal in the second as San Jose built a 2-0 leadership.
Brent Seabrook was then credited with a goal after a video replay reversed an initial decision on the ice without goals. Dave Bolland tied the game at 2-2 at 6:38 of the second.
The Sharks had a chance to regain the lead a minute into the final period, but a shot from the high slot by Devin Setoguchi comes from the stick of teammate Joe Thornton and hit the crossbar.
"I'm not going to criticize the effort," San Jose defender Dan Boyle said, pointing to the strong play goalkeeper Antti Niemi in Chicago. "A combination of playing well defensively, he plays well. The error was on us, too. We could not find a way to get it through and I am not quite sure why that is."
Marleau scored shorthanded goal from the right circle at 7:35 of the second, shortly after the Sharks started a break when Marc-Edouard Vlasic blocked a shot from Kane. The Sharks are in a position to take control, but they could not do it.
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