Now Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and the Blackhawks would like to add one of their own to the Madhouse on Madison. All they have to do is beat Philadelphia.

Kane, Toews and Dustin Byfuglien have been terrific on the 'Hawks top line.

Interestingly, Kane was nearly a Flyer. Philadelphia finished with a league-worst 56 points in 2006-07, but lost the draft lottery to Chicago. The Blackhawks had just an 8.1 percent chance of getting Kane with the top overall pick. Philadelphia took James van Riemsdyk with the second pick.

How will the Philadelphia defensive pair of Chris Pronger and Matt Carle handle the 257-pound Byfuglien in front of Michael Leighton? Vancouver and San Jose tried to use multiple players to offset Byfuglien, but that just put more bodies in front of the goaltender.

"I don't think anyone's going to go out of their way to do anything different than what they already do," Byfuglien said. "Everyone's got a job out there and (they'll) just stick to it."

For the 'Hawks to win the Cup, scoring from other places will be needed -- like forwards Marian Hossa, Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg, John Madden and Patrick Sharp, who was traded to Chicago from Philadelphia in December 2005. Sharp has 16 points in 16 postseason games thus far, and might have an extra chip on his shoulder wanting to stick it to his former team.

"Probably the most important reason we're so good is the depth on our team; you can’t just watch one line," Kane said. "We have so much skill and talent and so many players that can hurt you offensively, it's really just tough to pick one line to guard."

Could the third time be a charm for Hossa or is it a curse for the Blackhawks? Hossa, who lost in the finals as a Red Wing and Penguin each of the last two years, is the first player in history to play in three consecutive Finals with three different teams.

"It's a great feeling coming to the finals again, definitely, but this time I want to finish better," said Hossa, who signed a 12-year, $62.8 million deal in the offseason. Though he has played well defensively, Hossa has just two goals in 16 games.

"I'm getting close chances, but for whatever reason the puck doesn't want to jump in," he said. "On the other hand, I try to kill penalties and try to do other things. I'm hoping one lucky one will go in and go from there."

Defensemen Seabrook and Duncan Keith, a Norris Trophy finalist and member of the Canadian Olympic team that won gold in Vancouver, have been a solid shutdown pair for the Chicago.

Keith losing seven teeth in Sunday's game has gotten more of the attention.

"I might not sound the same, but I still feel the same," he said Tuesday. "I lost some teeth, but at the end of the day we're going to battle against a real tough team. We know what they've been able to do against some real good teams in New Jersey, then what they did against the Bruins and then I thought they handled the Canadiens pretty good. We're going to be in a tough battle for sure."

A lot of questions surrounding Chicago's playoff chances centered on the play of goaltender Antti Niemi, who played in just three games before the 2009-10 season. He has been outstanding. Sure, Philly’s Michael Leighton had three shutouts in the conference finals, but Niemi has shown he can stand up under pressure, making numerous big saves in tight games. He is 12-4 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in the postseason. Guess those regular-season numbers (26-7-4, 2.25, .912) were no fluke.

"Antti's a guy we had confidence in, internally, all year," general manager Stan Bowman told the Chicago Tribune. "Maybe people didn't know him that well, so they were wondering, is this the right guy? But it doesn't surprise me at all what he's done.

"He's a guy that we've seen for a long time coming, his talent level. And right now, to see him play the way he did in pressure situations, it gives our team a big boost, because we can kind of play the way we need to play and he's got our back."

With all the positivity, head coach Joel Quenneville still expects more.

"I think we can get better. I still think there's another level that we want to get to," he said. "We should be very excited about how we played, but we can still be striving to improve."

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/hide comments

Write comment

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment