Of all people, Michal Handzus scored in double overtime to keep the Chicago Blackhawks alive, with a 5-4 Chicago win in Game Five sending the series back to Los Angeles. Brandon Marshall . Handzus has been maligned through the postseason, even acknowledging his struggles -- as though its his fault that the Blackhawks frequently pin their second-line centre hopes on a 37-year-old centre who last scored more than 30 points in 2009-2010 -- but he still had the wherewithal to handle a pass in his skates, deke to the backhand and lift the puck over Kings G Jonathan Quick for the game-winner. Handzus was set up on the game-winning play by LW Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks 21-year-old man-child who was a force all night, picking up a goal and two assists, finishing with seven shots on goal and 10 shot attempts (Marian Hossa, with 11, and Bryan Bickell, with 10, were other Blackhawks with double-digit shot attempts). Saad now has 13 points in the postseason, two points behind Chicagos team leaders. One of those leaders is Patrick Kane, the talented winger who had managed one assist in the first four games of the series, but delivered a big game for Chicago in Game Five, putting up four assists. The only other player in Blackhawks history to register four assists in a playoff games was Steve Larmer, agsinst St. Louis April 30, 1990. Kane and Saad also had the best possession numbers for the Blackhawks in the game. With Kane on the ice, at 5-on-5, the Blackhawks had 28 shot attempts for and 16 against (63.6%); with Kane off the ice, the Blackhawks had 46.0% of the shot attempts. Over the past four games, Saad has been on for 68 of 103 5-on-5 shot attempts (66.0%). Blackhawks D Johnny Oduya had a goal and an assist, giving him 15 points in 40 playoff games, which ranks 11th among defencemen over the past two seasons. Blackhawks RW Andrew Shaw had quite a game, picking up a couple assists and tying Bryan Bickell for the team lead with eight hits, doing so while playing on a clearly injured right leg after getting tangled up with Kings D Jake Muzzin. For the Kings, captain Dustin Brown is relishing his return to Anze Kopitars wing and scored a goal and an assist, with a team-leading eight hits. Marian Gaborik also had a goal and an assist for the Kings; it was Gaboriks playoff-leading 11th goal. The standout for the Kings was D Drew Doughty, who didnt register a point, but had nine shots on goal and a dozen shot attempts, in a game-high 39:04 of ice time. Both goaltenders, Corey Crawford and Jonathan Quick had ups and downs throughout the game, but each ended up stopping 40 shots in a game that saw the Blackhawks outshoot the Kings 45-44, and out-attempt them 81-76. It was close and competitive, and included a thrilling overtime period as the Blackhawks staved off elimination in front of their home crowd. The kind of game that makes fans yearn for more between these two teams. Now, its to Game Six, back in Los Angeles and Chicago, which seemed to be on its last legs going into Game Five, has some life. They still need to win two more against a Kings team that has been playing tremendous hockey, but weve seen momentum swings in this years playoffs -- teams losing multi-goal leads in games and multi-game leads in series -- that should hearten the Blackhawks. If they can find a way to take Game Six, theyll get Game Seven back in Sweet Home Chicago. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Jon Bostic . Inglorious, one of two horses Carroll will send to Canadas most prestigious thoroughbred race, will be the lone filly in the 17-horse field. Craig Steltz . Jussi Jokinen skated across the front of the crease and roofed a shot over sprawling goalie Semyon Varlamov to give the Penguins a 3-2 win in a shootout on Sunday night.As their principal league rival came to terms with their seven-year MLS itch by splashing their loadsamoney cash and monopolizing the headlines, that likely even NYC FC owner Sheik Mansour has been paying attention to, the Montreal Impact have gone about their off season with a minimum of fuss. Last fall as local media awaited news on if Schällibaum would return, finally on December 18th a plume of Stade Saputo white smoke arrived in the form of a solitary press release stating the Impact were placing their 2014 Trust in Frank. That very same evening at a swanky downtown hotel, the Impact hosted 500 of their favourite supporters at their inaugural Members Council. Introduced to the faithful, Klopas was sat at the head table sharing a stage with the IMFC podium - Joey Saputo, Nick de Santis and Richard Legendre. Klopas slipped out of town the following day - only though after some Christmas shopping with his wife; a tradition for the couple which dates back to the ex-Fire coachs playing days. The Impacts third head coach would remain in Chicago until a week into the New Year. Upon officially taking up the reigns as head coach and director of player personnel the first point of business for Klopas was the following weekends combine. The opening of training camp was a fortnight away. As the days ebbed away speculation mounted on what the club would do to plug significant roster gaps. Most prominently this came in the shape of a retired Nesta plus the Impact were in need of replacing their captain who had been acquired in December by Barrack Obamas local club. Then throw in the Impacts need to sign a free scoring supporting cast member for Di Vaio, a player they cant expect to repeat his MVP type season. But the only news for local media to sink their teeth into at this time came from city hall as the Mayor proclaimed he would attend March the 22nd home opener. Then just as the Toronto FC plush red carpet was about to extend itself from Drakes downtown condo to a certain part of North London, training camp a mere 10 days away, the Impact were finally able to announce a player signing. Not a marquee signing most hoped for, instead it was the re-upping of the first player to pen an Impact MLS deal, Nelson Rivas. Having missed last terms entire regular season, the Columbian has the perfect motivation to return the faith shown in him by the club. Aside from calling up three Academy Players plus including four Super Draft picks, Rivas was the only senior player added to the squad of 21 Klopas inherited for when camp opened January 27th. A 28-player squad that was still without Adrian Lopez who was still home in Spain continuing the rehab of a late summer shattered ACL. The FA Cup winner is not expected in Montreal before Easter. It would be a full fortnight into camp before another playing signing was announced when just on Mondday the Impact confirmed Andrés Romero would return on loan from his Brazilian side. Stephen Paea. . Romero had certainly impressed in early 2013 but as the season wore on the 24-year-old Argentine became the brunt for much supporter frustration. His form taking the most significant of dips, one we now know is strongly attributed to his wife having to return home to Argentina in preparation for the addition of welcoming twins to the Romero household. The Impacts wait for a new player signing finally ended this morning when announcing the signature of 21-year-old centre forward, Santiago Gonzalez. The Uruguayan, a so termed ‘Discovery Signing becomes the fifth South American footballer to join the club. And with it, there goes the neighbourhood and the myth the Impact only sign over-aged Italians. A few hours later Toronto introduced Inter Milans Champions League winning goalkeeper and Harry Redknapp castaway, Julio Cesar on a season-long loan. The man Felipe Scolari will pin his goalkeeping faith on during this summers World Cup is expected to man the posts for a team that leaked goals in 2013 until returning home for his nations tilt at securing a sixth world crown. Toronto FCs shiny looking new squad currently comes resplendent with more DPs on their roster than even the LA Galaxy are permitted. Dont, though, expect the Impact to up its DP quota anytime soon. Following yesterdays final training session ahead of the clubs departure late this afternoon to Orlando in defence of its Disney World Pro Soccer Classic title, De Santis poured extremely cold water on speculation linking the Impact to Valencias Pablo Piatti and SS Lazios Stefano Mauri. Having added a summer signing DP in each of its two MLS seasons to date, dont be surprised if the Impact continue that trend following this summers World Cup Finals. The Impact are set to get their pre-season and their Disney defence underway February 19th when they take on Fluminense FCs Under-23 team. Rounding out the Impacts group is two significant pre-season matches against the very best in all of MLS last season. A Supporter Shield wielding New York Red Bulls and an MLS Cup Champion, Sporting KC. With Toronto FC paired in a much weaker group which contains Orlando City SC, Columbus and Philadelphia, anything less than an appearance in March 1sts Disney final will likely be deemed as failure. With the Impact starting their 2014 season down in Dallas the night of March 8th, how appetizing is the prospect of a Disney final return and testing themselves against their neighbours, the club which has made most noise this off-season. You can reach and follow Noel Butler at:Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca@TheSoccerNoel Beginning with March 8ths game in Dallas, you can listen to all 34 Impact regular season games home and away this season on TSN690 – online at www.TSN690.ca ' ' '
