CHICAGO – Patrick Sharp remembers it like it was yesterday.
His first impression of teammate Patrick Kane came back on June 22, 2007 – exactly six years before Saturday’s 3-1 victory in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup – when the Chicago Blackhawks called the scrawny teenager to the podium with the first-overall pick in the NHL draft.
It didn’t take Kane very long to show off his trademark swagger.
“I was watching it on TV and thought there was no way he would be able to play (right away),” Sharp said with a laugh. “I remember him sitting there at the desk on TV saying he was going to show up and make the team out of training camp and I got a good chuckle out of that. Little did I know – he won the rookie of the year and has improved every season.
“He’s done a lot in those six years and I think the best is yet to come.”
It speaks volumes about Kane’s career that we’ve basically come to expect performances like the one he had on Saturday night.
The man with the playoff mullet scored Chicago’s first two goals in a tightly-contested Game 5 against the Boston Bruins and vaulted his team within one victory of another Stanley Cup.
Kane was the final core piece added to this organization and he just keeps pushing them over the top. In fact, there’s a pretty strong argument to be made that no NHL player has scored more impactful goals than him in the last few years.
Where to start?
There was a hat trick in an elimination game when Chicago knocked off the Vancouver Canucks in 2009 and the Cup-winning goal in overtime one year later against the Philadelphia Flyers. He’s continued to be clutch this spring – scoring a hat trick, which included the overtime winner, against the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference final.
After Saturday’s first-star performance, he now has seven goals in his last seven games.
“Kaner has got high-end skill,” said coach Joel Quenneville. “He’s dangerous with the puck, his anticipation without it offensively is high end. I think reading off those guys in the offensive zone has been very effective for him.
“But guys that have that kind of innate skill of scoring and being a top player, they anticipate like the rest of us would like to.”
Kane has never let his diminutive stature stand in his way.
All three of his goals in this series have come since he was reunited on a line with Jonathan Toews and Bryan Bickell, which means that they’ve been scored against a Bruins top defensive unit that includes six-foot-nine Zdeno Chara.
Kane’s silky smooth hands were a factor in Game 5.
He made a lovely move to corral a bouncing puck and slide it past Tuukka Rask at 17:27 of the first period. He then made it 2-0 early in the second after finding a seam between defenders and delicately backhanding a shot over the Bruins’ goalie.
“He’s a great player and he loves these games,” said Blackhawks winger Michael Frolik. “It’s amazing. He scored two goals and it’s great for us.
“I think in these games he’s unbelievable, he loves it and we’re glad we have him.”
Kane wore a big grin as he placed the Blackhawks heavyweight belt on his seat in the dressing room after the win. That was a reward from his teammates to recognize him as their top performer.
No one was surprised he’d be the one to nab it on a night that started with the series tied 2-2.
“I don’t think this game had to happen to define Kaner as a big-time player,” said Sharp. “He’s had plenty of opportunities and he’s shown up in big games with big performances.
“I knew he was a big-time player before tonight.”
Added defenceman Duncan Keith: “I know from playing with him that there’s no guy I’d rather have the puck going down the ice and following the play up with than him.”
With the series shifting back to Boston for Game 6 on Monday night, the Blackhawks are likely to experience a little case of déjà vu. They were in the exact same situation against Philadelphia in 2010 and managed to wrap up the championship with a big road victory.
That came courtesy of Kane’s overtime winner – a quick shot from a weird angle that required a couple seconds to pass before his teammates realized it was actually in.
“It was a great moment,” said Kane. “I think it’s exciting to be back in that situation again. This is what you work for all year, all summer, when you’re training throughout the year at training camp, whatever it may be.
“This is what you work for, this opportunity. We’ve got to seize the moment and take advantage of it.”
He should know: Few, if any do that better than him.