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There’s really not much more that can be said or even amplified about tonight’s Game 6 of the NHL Western Conference Finals.
It’s an elimination game for one team. For the other, it's a chance not just to survive, but to turn the tide of the series in their favor.
One team won the Cup two years ago, the other has won two Cups in the last four years. So to an extent, dynastic bragging rights are potentially on the line.
The Chicago Blackhawks not only won an epic double-overtime Game 5, but they might have laid the groundwork for coming back in the series. Head Coach Joel Quenneville tweaked his lines and changed his top two defensive pairs and got the results he wanted out of those units.
But tonight is a different story. The Hawks go into a tough building where they won in last year’s WCF, but haven’t done so in this year’s version.
Here are my keys for the Hawks to win this game:
1: Corey Crawford has to play better. Two goals or less please. Because . . .
2: The Hawks can’t go in to a shell. The forwards need to be able to use their speed to get pucks and bodies around and behind the Kings’ slower defensemen. In particular . . .
3: Brandon Saad needs to bring it like he did in Game 5. If he does, and Crawford holds the fort, the Kings are going to have their hands full.
4: The Hawks must keep the Kings somewhat back on their heels. The Kings are a considerably faster team than they were a year ago. This was the difference in games 2 through 4 of the series. They had the Hawks back on their heels. Or they caught the Hawks too far up ice.
5: The Kings will try to stop the Hawks between the bluelines, Obstruction or no, it isn’t being called. Nor apparently is holding the stick. The Hawks must quickly recognize which side of the ice the Kings are pressuring and get the puck quickly to forwards on the opposite side of the ice.
6: Patrick Kane had a really strong Game 5. The Kings will try to put bodies on Saad to stop him. If they do, Kane must pick up the slack or draw pressure away from Saad. Can he? Yes, this is Patrick Kane we’re talking about.
7: Darryl Sutter acknowledged after Game 5 that the Saad-Kane lines gave his team fits, but made no noises about changing who he matches up against them. The reason being, he can’t. Any adjustments he makes as such would open things up more for the Jonathan Toews line. If the Hawks get some production our of the Toews line, or the kind of pressure they got in Game 5, all the better. It just puts more matchup pressure on the Kings.
The Kings have improved their forward depth and speed greatly since last year, but not so much their defense. Quenneville’s Game 5 adjustment, basically re-mixing his top-four defense, underscores the luxury he has of essentially two top shutdown pairs. The Kings aren’t quite there. So if Quenneville can roll two very dangerous lines, as he did in Game 5, it virtually negates Sutter’s home-ice, last change advantage.
The pressure is on the Kings.
If the Hawks pull off a win tonight, they have all the momentum and likely a proven (by that point) matchup advantage for Game 7 back in Chicago. Although, let’s face it, it’s the Hawks who are facing elimination in defense of the Cup—and a shot at the first dynasty in the post-salary cap era—on the road against a very, very good team.
More tomorrow.
JJ