Keith does it all - amazingly well
He's the Blackhawks' glue on the blue line, a sponge for ice time - and Duncan Keith is arguably their most valuable player eight games into the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.
After scoring 2 game-winning goals and adding 5 assists in the first round against the Nashville Predators, the two-time Norris Trophy winner has 3 assists in 2 wins to open the second round against the Minnesota Wild.
After recording two helpers in Friday's 4-3 win in Game 1, Keith sent a perfect stretch pass to Patrick Kane to set up the game-deciding goal Sunday night in the Hawks' 4-1 triumph in Game 2 at the United Center. It added to his team-high scoring total of 10 points that includes a pair of goals and 8 assists.
"He's been great and it's nice that he's getting some recognition," said Patrick Sharp, who scored an insurance goal to make it 3-1 at 7:39 of the third. "I know he's looked upon league-wide as a top defenseman. We think he's the best in the league, along with a couple of other guys on our team. It's nice that those guys can get some credit, because they do so much for us on the back end."
Just for good measure, Keith also played a little defense. He wasn't on the ice for the Wild's goal early in the third and finished the game with a game-high plus-4 rating. He has a team-high plus-8 rating for the postseason and played 30:12, just under his average of 31:00 a game.
The play to spring Kane with 20 seconds left in the second was a thing of beauty.
Minnesota's Thomas Vanek opted not to put the puck deep in the Hawks' zone standing just outside the blue line and instead flipped it just over the blue line off the far boards. Keith scooped it off the carom and quickly sent a pass to Kane just outside the Wild's blue line.
Kane did the rest with a perfectly-placed wrist shot into the far side of the net to make it 2-0 heading into the third. Minnesota's Matt Dumba scored early in the third to make it 2-1, but never got closer.
"Great shot by Kaner and a great play by him, but if you go back and look at the play, Duncs make a great play to zip it up there," Sharp said.
While most Hawks fans celebrated the goal, Keith's teammates immediately recognized the importance of the pass. It was an elite-level play among a number of them for the Hawks in the first two games of this series.
"Our back pressure forced them to try and make a play," Keith said. "I just took a look and saw Kaner there taking off and tried to get it to him. He made a nice play to open up for it and give me a good (passing) lane."