CHICAGO — It has always fascinated this writer, why it is that at the biggest moments in sport, some players continually rise to the top. How the true greats raise their level with the importance of the game, year after year and huge game after huge game.
How Duncan Keith, who is the best player on the ice many times over the course of a National Hockey League season, never, ever fails to contend for that honour in a game like the one they played in Chicago last night. Or how Jonathan Toews can be well known as the most dangerous Blackhawk when the chips are down, yet still he scores meaningful goals with the goalie pulled and everybody watching him.
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS: | Broadcast Schedule
Rogers NHL GameCentre LIVE | Stanley Cup Playoffs Fantasy Hockey
New Sportsnet app: iTunes | Google Play
On Wednesday, in a Game 6 that Chicago absolutely had to have, they went out and took it. Their best players were, as the cliché goes, their best players. The champs fought back, and won 5-2, sending this epic series back to Anaheim, once and for all.
“I don’t think we want to wait ‘til this point to bring it out of us,” Toews said, when asked where this level of determination has been. “You know, you give everything you’ve got. Then as the games get more and more important, you dig deeper and deeper. That’s the most you can do; all you can ask from your teammates and yourself.
“When we realize our season is on the line, we think back to everything that went into us getting to this point. The opportunity we have, the group that we have… Throw everything into the mix and that’s your motivation right there to throw everything at them. When you do that you let the chips fall, and we have the ability, the talent, the character and the experience to turn things in our favour.”
Keith was Hall of Fame good on Wednesday, controlling the game’s pace playing for his usual game-high 28:35, while quarterbacking his team to the win as steadily as Scotty Niedermayer ever did his Devils or Ducks. In a span of 3:45 in the second period, Keith assisted on three Hawks goals, the second one a masterpiece.
Walking in from the left point, Keith held goalie Frederik Andersen in place for a hockey eternity, twice faking slapshots to cement Andersen in position, then passing over to Marian Hossa at the right circle for a near empty-netter.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Andrew Shaw, who added two late goals to ice this one.
“Being around a few years, it’s something that’s expected really,” said Brandon Saad, who opened the scoring after finding himself on a line with Patrick Kane and Toews. “(Keith) brings it every night, and the minutes he logs and the vision he has out there to have a patient game and make those plays you saw on the Hossa goal? It’s pretty incredible.”
There was a Blackhawks focus on display Wednesday that Anaheim has not yet witnessed, which included a 66 per cent night in the face off circle for the Chicago centres. Ryan Kesler went 3-for-13, while Ryan Getzlaf was 4-for-15, as Anaheim’s top two draw men got schooled at the dot.
The teams played 8:13 of uninterrupted play in the third period, and Anaheim had the puck for most of it. Even though they’d crawled back to 3-2 however, you never quite got the feeling that the Ducks would get all the way back. Nor did anyone ever really think a Western Conference Final of this pedigree deserved anything less than a winner-take-all, Game 7 Saturday night in Anaheim.
Download Sportsnet magazine now: iOS | Android | Windows
It is a classic, between former champs and future champs. All that remains is to see which one will be which come Sunday morning.
“It’s been exciting for the fans for sure, and for us too,” said Anaheim winger Kyle Palmieri. “Triple OT, double OT and Matty (Beleskey) winning it the other night in the first minute of OT, it’s been exciting.
“It’s a tough conference and I think the two best teams are going to go at it Saturday night for a chance to go play for the Stanley Cup.”
We can’t wait. The hockey has simply been that good.