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Who thought there would be handshakes in Chicago last night? I didn’t. Well, I did before the Ducks won Game 5. But . . .

So someone finally beat the big bad Ducks in regulation in the playoffs. Wow. Hey, kudos to the Ducks. That doesn’t happen if you’re a fraud. No, the Ducks, even in losing last night, showed yet again that they are a really, really good hockey team.

Now, that said, it’s time again for a little more myth/reality.

Less formalized, and point by point.

1) Where is all this fatigue that no "human can take" in the Hawks’ Top 4 that the Ducks and some media keep talking about?

Duncan Keith played nearly 29 minutes last night and was the first star. An earned first star. Keith was magical at both ends of the ice.

Nothing has been set in stone in this series, except one thing: Keith is the best all-around defenseman in the National Hockey League. And there’s really no one else close.

He has taken his game to another level in these playoffs and is doing things, in terms of the minutes he’s playing, on offense and on defense, that no other defenseman in the league can duplicate. Period.

If you think, because you don’t watch or understand enough Western Conference hockey that Keith is just an offensive defenseman, you’re wrong.

Because he might be better defensively than he is offensively, in terms of taking away space and using his mobility to defuse opponents’ opportunities. Sure, Keith’s shot could be more accurate and he has moments where is outmatched physically by the sheer size/strength of a Perry or a Getzlaf. But the positives vastly, vastly outweigh those negatives.

And as far as his mates, Brent Seabrook and Johnny Oduya were top notch last night. I will concede that Niklas Hjalmarsson looks less than 100%, but that is not unusual for him, with his style of play, by this point of the playoffs.

2) Fredrik Andersen=Jonathan Quick=Roberto Luongo=Pekka Rinne=Tuuka Rask

Good company for a goalie. And a long list of “impregnable” goalies the Hawks have eventually gotten to in long playoff series. Andersen has given up 13 goals in the last three games of the series.

His counterpart, Corey Crawford, was solid last night. Essentially Crawford gave up one goal. The second “allowed” goal was a clear and indisputable penalty, and one where the overhead view showed Crawford was tracking the puck and likely would have gloved it if Jakob Silfverberg hadn’t impeded him. Which leads to my next point . . .

3) The refs are not gaming the Ducks. At all.

Getting in an extra cross check or a shot to the face after you’ve been whistled for a penalty is, in fact, yet another penalty. The Ducks have gotten away with this on at least two occasions. Clutching, grabbing, slashing is going both ways. So if you’re still complaining about the officiating as an Anaheim fan, saying it is unfair to your team, you just need to stop. You don’t sound very bright, much less objective.


And so, on to the OC and Game 7. Who has the advantage?

If anyone says emphatically one team or the other does, they don’t know what they’re looking at. In the Ducks’ column goes home ice, the odds and probabilities that go with that. In the Hawks’, experience, maybe some momentum.

I think Joel Quenneville, in terms of the lines and pairings, has them right where he wants them. The Hawks got goals from 3 of their 4 lines last night. Marcus Kruger’s “fourth line” was as good as any for either team last night. That said, Bruce Boudreau, not Quenneville, has the last change Saturday night. And there goes a fair amount of Q’s matchup mojo.

Still, 13 goals in the last 3 games suggest the Hawks are surging in this series as they have in some many in the past—in the latter portions. Andersen may lock it down again, but his body language and actual performance suggest he is rattled.

But as much as the Hawks are now knifing through the Duck defense and Andersen, the Ducks came oh so close many times last night. Sure, take away the goalie interference non-goal, the Ducks easily could have converted on 2-3 other occasions.

For the Hawks to win in Anaheim Saturday, they will need another herculean performance by Keith or Seabrook or Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane. And as good (or better goaltending from Corey Crawford.

David Rundblad was OK in limited minutes and situations last night. They need that again.

I’ll have a more robust preview tomorrow or Saturday.



JJ




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