Sports

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The hats came flying out of the seats and littered the ice at the United Center. The roar of the crowd was so loud that Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville had trouble calling out line changes.

All part of a pulsating and wild third period that sent the Blackhawks to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1995.

Patrick Kane had his first hat trick -- two scores in the final period -- and 21-year-old captain Jonathan Toews scored the go-ahead goal as the Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks 7-5 Monday night to wrap up their semifinal playoff 4-2.

"After the third goal I had chills," the 20-year-old Kane said. "I didn't know what went on the next five or six minutes. ... I was in another world."

Seems like the Blackhawks are in a world of their own. They're loose, seemingly unfazed by most of the commotion surrounding this trip to the postseason, a first for many of the young players on their roster.

They had to rally twice from one-goal deficits in the final period to beat a good team with a standout goalie.

Kane tied the game at 5 with his first goal of the third period and second of the game. Toews put the Blackhawks ahead to stay 49 seconds later when his pass across the crease on a power play hit Vancouver's Alexander Edler and went in past goalie Roberto Luongo.

Kane made it a two-goal lead by again beating Luongo -- then the noise got deafening.

"I've never been in a building, sports or music concerts, as loud as that one," said the Blackhawks' Adam Burish, who also had a goal. "It was an atmosphere I've never been a part of."

"It's been such a roller coaster; at the start of the year, our goal was to make the playoffs, and then once we made the playoffs; once we got close, we said, 'Let's get home ice.' We got home ice. We said let's win the first series, then the second series, and now we're going to adjust our goals again for the fourth and fifth time this year, and I think it's a good way to approach it," Burish added. 

Next up is either archrival Detroit or Anaheim.

"Going into the first game against Calgary in the first round, a lot of us didn't
really know what to expect," Toews said. "We've had a lot of fun so far."

Even the usually unemotional Quenneville was shaking his head over the final period.

"I don't think anybody anticipated the craziness in the third period. The turns and the swings were gigantic, and staying with it was certainly an exciting ending for everybody at the game. I just thought it was so unpredictable. I don't think anybody saw that it was going to happen, and how it unraveled and unfolded, it was an amazing ending," he said.

When the Blackhawks' Troy Brouwer was called for goaltender interference with just under 8 minutes remaining, Daniel Sedin scored quickly with a shot from the left circle that put the Canucks ahead 5-4.

"We didn't want to go back to Vancouver for Game 7," Toews said. 
the Blackhawks' Nikolai Khabibulin made 33 saves and Luongo 23.

"We had some chances early and I made some saves, but the rest of the way I didn't help my teammates out," said Luongo, who was nearly in tears in the Canucks' locker room. "When you let in seven goals, I don't think that's a very good performance."

Sedin had a pair of goals for Vancouver, which lost the final three games of the series in a crushing end to what the Canucks hoped would be a run to the Stanley Cup.

"We had a chance to go a long way," Sedin said. "That's the most disappointing thing. This was a great opportunity."

Vancouver's Mats Sundin scored to put the Canucks up 4-3 early in the third period, but Burish countered on a nice centering pass from Patrick Sharp to
tie it.

The Blackhawks took a 3-1 lead in the second period on power-play goals by Kris Versteeg and Toews. The Canucks came charging back to tie on scores from Sedin and Shane O'Brien to momentarily quiet the frenzied crowd.

CBS 2's Megan Mawicke and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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