ANAHEIM — There are no more words to explain how Jonathan Toews does what he does, night after night, springtime after springtime. Or, for that matter, to articulate what happens to the best team in the Western Conference for 82 regular season games, when a Game 7 at the Honda Center rolls around in May.
“I don’t know,” began Ducks winger Patrick Maroon, as a teammate yelled an expletive at the top of his lungs from somewhere outside the main dressing room. “Last year was a tough loss, this is even worse. We were one game away, we had ‘em on the ropes going (up) 3-2 into their barn. We’re looking better because we have home ice advantage…
His thought just trailed off. “Honestly, I have no words.”
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Adulation and devastation. That’s what followed in the dressing rooms of the Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks, after the big game Hawks rolled over the flat-lining Ducks by a 5-3 score, leading 4-0 at one point in this anticlimactic game 7.
Praise of Toews, who stormed into this Game 7 and notched two goals before the night was 12 minutes old. And the poison of losing — again —in a Game 7 at home, a trend that puts Anaheim’s lone Stanley Cup victory of 2007 that much further in the rear-view mirror, and earns them the moniker “San Jose South” as each opportunity to succeed is choked upon.
“Have you ever played with a big game performer of this magnitude?” Chicago defenceman Duncan Keith was asked.
“I really haven’t, actually,” Keith replied. “Playing with a guy like Johnny, and Kaner (Patrick Kane) as well, there’s no two guys I’d rather have on my team coming into a big game.
“They just find a way, no matter what. That belief. Always knowing they’re going to get it done, find a way. That rubs off on a lot of guys.”
Said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville of his captain Toews: “He’s an amazing person, and he’s an amazing hockey player. The bigger the moment … he just seems to excel on the big moments, the big stages. He’s as good a leader as there is in any sport.”
The Tour de Force by Toews on Saturday was indeed Messier-like: Two goals on two shots; 57% in the circle; and by the midway point of the game, it was no longer about which of Ryan Getzlaf or Ryan Kesler would be matched up against Toews, as he was crushing both of them. Anaheim head coach Bruce Boudreau opted for Nate Thompson.
Game, set, match.
“I don’t know if we won a face off in the first 10 minutes of the game, and when you’re trying to match lines that’s really tough,” said the Ducks captain Getzlaf, who had two awful outings in Game 6 and 7 of this series. “Ultimately, I felt that was the difference in the game.”
Getzlaf, Kesler and Corey Perry all went pointless in Games 6. On Saturday, with a chance to redeem themselves in a Game 7 at home, Getzlaf had one lonely assist, Perry scored the goal that made it 4-2 late, and Kesler scored the 4-1 goal.
Toews and Keith had two points each and Kane added three. That’s what separated two fantastic teams: One’s best players were indeed their best players, while the other’s choked. Again.
“I’m not lyin’. It’s going to hurt for a while,” said poor Boudreau, the jockey whose horse spit the bit once more. “We truly believed we were a different team and we had a chance of winning five more games. It didn’t get done, and we’ll have to live with that for a summer.
“But, the same reason why these guys came to play each and every night will be the same reason why they bounce back.”
This series turned on its axis some time late in Game 5, when Toews scored those two goals in the final 1:50 to send the game into OT. Anaheim won that night, but somehow a dynamic changed that night. Chicago became the Alpha dog in this relationship that night, and the ‘Hawks never looked back.
“There were no easy games, nothing given to us,” said Toews. “No lulls where we thought maybe Anaheim didn’t play their best hockey and we got away with it. That was an incredible test for both teams with the talent and the offence going back and forth.”
Boudreau will eat some dust from this one, and he should not. He has coached the Ducks to consecutive regular season titles out West, and three straight Pacific Division titles, yet lost in a Game 7 in this very building for the third consecutive year.
In our humble estimation, once a coach gets a team to this position, it’s up to the players to deliver. His have not, and now it is Boudreau who is distinguished as the only head coach in NHL history to have lost six times in a Game 7 situation.
“I gained an appreciation this year, making it to where we did, on how tough every series is,” he said. “You hear about it on TV, but until you see how many hurdles you have to go through…
“I thought we had a good chance to get to the dance. Obviously, we didn’t make it.”
No, it will be Chicago and Tampa, opening in Tampa Bay on Wednesday.
The Ducks, sour on their fortunes, likely won’t be watching. Perhaps they should be.
The Blackhawks might have another lesson for them.