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At this time of year, seemingly year after year, how I used to hate Steve Yzerman, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Chris Osgood, Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, etc.
The reason I hated them are the same reasons that Nashville Predator fans may have seen Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp in their nightmares last night.
These are "money" players who just won't lose big games at this time of year.
We learned in this series that Nashville is a power on the rise. With a tweak here and there to their forward lines, the future is "money" in Music City.
We learned that the Central Division, although many already knew this, is the best division in hockey at present—two other Central clubs are still alive this morning in addition to Chicago—two have been eliminated int hte first round.
And we learned that this year's Chicago Blackhawks club, a team that was hard to peg for much of the year, might be deserving of all the Vegas money that's been tilted its way for months.
Last night's box score and event summary show a 4-3 hockey game. What it doesn't really show is the monumental struggle between the two teams, and the individual stories of so many players.
it really was like a heavyweight fight, where the upstart challenger landed some huge boms early, hoping for a knockout. But then the more experienced champ got it together and eventually wore his opponent down.
To my eye, the game didn't turn so much when Corey Crawford was inserted in the game in relief of Scott darling, as much as it did when James Neal, after scoring two goals, took a really stupid cross-check penalty on Andrew Shaw, and the Hawks immediately capitalized on the power play.
That's the story of the series for the Preds: all kinds of talent, not quite enough experience. You learn from this one.
For the Hawks, their best players were there best players last night. Duncan Keith, who scored the game-winner with just under 4 minutes in regulation was a man obsessed. Up and down the ice, Keith competed and won. And were it not for the brilliance of Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne, Keith's offensive moves might have led to a hat trick. he was that good, with and woithout the puck.
Jonathan Toews had 3 points. Patrick Kane had a huge goal with under a minute in the first period, tying the game at 3—another turning point, you could literally see Nashville was ready to give up at that point. Sharp and had two points, including the Hawks' first goal that seemed to begin to turn the tide of the game.
Looking past the scoresheet, you see Bryan Bickell had 8 hits. Marian Hossa had 5. Antoine Vermette and Brad Richards were absolutely dominant in the faceoff circle. There was nothing statistically significant about Marcus Kruger's night, but he was a solid contributor, as were linemates Shaw and Andrew Desjardins, up and down the ice.
The Hawks are still where the smart money goes because their money players come up big in games like last night's.
Now the team can sit back, rest and wait to find out whether they face the Blues or the Wild—two more really tough foes from the Central—in round 2.
Should be a great day of hockey, where Barrington High School product Craig Anderson tries to continue his magical dominance over the Canadiens, and the Wild and Blues sort their series out.
Congratulations to the Calgary Flames on eliminating the Canucks last night in a game that felt a lot like the Hawks/Preds game 6.
Great playoffs thus far.
All for now,
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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