Blackhawks move a step closer to the title with 3-1 win over Bruins

The last time the Blackhawks headed to Boston they were in search of a victory to regain home-ice advantage.

This time, they’re after a much bigger prize.

The Blackhawks took a giant step toward capturing their second Stanley Cup in four seasons Saturday when they topped the Bruins, 3-1, in Game 5 of the Final at the United Center. The victory gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 6 on Monday night at TD Garden in Boston.

Patrick Kane, drafted No. 1 overall by the Blackhawks six years ago to the day, had two goals, and Dave Bolland provided an empty-netter while goaltender Corey Crawford earned the victory with 24 saves.

“It was a huge win and we put ourselves in a good position,” said Kane, who had his fourth career multigoal playoff game. “It’s very exciting … but at the same time you have to try to play like it’s not on your mind.”

Both teams suffered possibly significant injuries in the second period as Bruins center Patrice Bergeron left in an ambulance to go to a hospital and Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews did not take a shift in the third period.

The Bruins’ Johnny Boychuk leveled Toews during the second period and Toews remained on the bench for the remainder of the game. Earlier in the contest, Toews took an elbow to the head from Chara.

“We’re hopeful [Toews] will be ready next game — upper body,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’ll see how he is” Sunday.

History suggests the Blackhawks are in a good position. The 22 teams that have won Game 5 after splitting the first four contests have gone on to hoist the Cup 15 times since the best-of-seven format began in 1939.

“You do the best you can to block out what’s happening,” winger Patrick Sharp said. “It’s almost impossible to do that, but we’ve done a good job of maintaining focus and playing Blackhawks hockey from start to finish, really from Game 1 of the regular season. We know what our goal is, we know how close we are, but we can’t change our approach in any way.”

The Blackhawks are 18-4 in Games 5 through 7 of playoff series under Quenneville and will look to add another victory to that mark Monday night to follow up their 2010 Cup with a fifth championship.

The Blackhawks controlled the pace of the game and were rewarded when Kane found the back of the net with his first goal of the night.

Defenseman Johnny Oduya fired a shot toward the Bruins net that hit and snapped the stick of Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and began bounding toward the left post. Kane gathered it and tucked in a backhander.

Early in the second, Kane struck again when he pounced on a rebound of a Bryan Bickell wraparound attempt and knocked the puck out of midair with his backhand.

After some tense moments, Bolland sent the crowd of 22,274 home happy with an empty-netter in the waning seconds.

ckuc@tribune.com