What is the measure of a rivalry? Maybe all one needs to do is review both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals to see where they start and fester and boil over.
Wednesday night had the Anaheim Ducks in Chicago looking to move on to the Stanley Cup Final with a win over the Blackhawks, but like the Rangers in the east, the Hawks spoiled the party to force a Game 7 in Anaheim.
In just under four minutes in the second period, the line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad scored three times to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead en route to a 5-2 win over the Ducks.
“We lost our composure for the first time I thought in the playoffs,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They scored the one goal. It was like, Aah, what’s going on? We started scrambling all over. They got the momentum. We lost our composure. That was the theme that I saw.”
Patrick Maroon and Clayton Stoner scored for the Ducks to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Duncan Keith assisted on all three goals in the second period.
“Well, I mean, there’s nights where you look at the score sheet and you see how great he can be, how pivotal, how much he means to our team, especially in these big games,” Toews said of Keith’s efforts. “But I think whether he’s on the score sheet, whether he’s making those plays, he’s there every night making that difference no matter what.
“I think we always know that in the locker room. We’ve seen it in previous years in the playoffs, games like tonight where it’s must-win. You can definitely count on him stepping up and being one of our best players, if not our best player. He’s all over the rink. Seems like he never runs out of energy. Pretty amazing game tonight.”
The line of Toews, Kane and Saad was key change the Hawks made for the Game 6 effort if they were to make it a one and done series.
“They’re very high-skilled players. They got great pace. They’re very competitive. They’re great leaders,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “The last game in the third period, they played some shifts there. They had some great looks together. That got us thinking about it.
“We were ready to try it. Down a game here, we tried it. Sometimes you go to the mindset of the game, we’ll see what happens initially, but you’re ready to go to it.”
Frederik Andersen had 18 saves on the night for the loss and Corey Crawford stopped 30 for the win.
“Well, it’s one game for the Stanley Cup [Final],” Boudreau said. “I’m excited about it. I mean, I’d rather have done it in six. I think when you sit down and think that you’ve got one chance to go play for the Stanley Cup, and it’s one game in your home building, with your fans, I got to believe that both teams are going to play their best game of the series.”
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