A Hawks' postseason to remember

While the Red Wings' dismantling of the Penguins feels oddly familiar, here's one view of some memorable moments from the Blackhawks' postseason:

10. Coach Q goes off

Joel Quenneville's "worst call in the history of sports" diatribe was both humorous and effective, and a veteran coaching move.

His purpose was to get people talking about his ref rip and lessen the discussion of Cristobal Huet and the Hawks' horrible Game 4 performance against Detroit.

And it worked.

9. The comeback

Martin Havlat gets a fortunate bounce and scores to tie Game 1 vs. Calgary with less than six minutes left, after the Hawks had been outplayed the entire game. He also scores in OT to win it.

8. Pahlsson's pass

In Game 3 vs. Detroit, Sammy Pahlsson's phantom backhand pass in overtime gives Patrick Sharp a wide-open net and the Hawks their only victory in the conference finals.

7. The flurry

The Hawks and the Canucks combine for 6 goals in 12:34, the Hawks netting the last trio in 3:17 to finish off the Canucks in the third period of Game 6. Patrick Kane's hat trick sends the Hawks to the conference finals for the first time since 1995.

6. Brian Campbell

His giveaway hands Detroit Game 2 in overtime, and his Game 4 performance was just as bad as he had a hand in 3 of the Wings' first 4 goals in a 6-1 defeat.

Only seconds after the Hawks make it 3-1, off the faceoff Campbell needlessly tries to take out Valtteri Filppula with a monster hit at center ice and misses.

With Campbell far behind the play, Marian Hossa walks in and scores to make it 4-1.

In the Detroit series, the $56 million man was minus-5 with 1 point, but the low point was calling the Niklas Kronwall hit on Martin Havlat "gutless," which was laughable on several levels, not the least of which was the memory of Campbell's savage but completely legal hit on R.J. Umberger a couple of years ago.

Former Hawk Jim Dowd, on the NHL Channel, called Campbell "an embarrassment" for his comments.

5. The captain

Jonathan Toews probably was playing hurt since a hit he took near the bench in Game 3 in Calgary, but he continued to play great hockey through the next two series and impressed all three teams he faced in the postseason.

He had players and coaches raving about his tenacity, drive and responsibility, and the Wings' Mike Babcock - a virtual lock to be Team Canada's Olympic coach - sounded like he wanted to adopt Toews after the conference finals.

The Kid Captain was not only impressive on the ice, but he stood up after every game and outlasted all comers, no matter how difficult the loss.

He was a man among so many terrific young men.

4. Cristobal Huet

His pad save on the Wings' Johan Franzen with 20 seconds left in the third in Game 5 will be replayed for decades.

3. The Kronwall blast

Even Martin Havlat has now admitted Niklas Kronwall hit him clean, something everyone in the NHL - who didn't work for the Hawks - knew the moment it happened.

No one wants to see anyone get hurt, but that's as good a hit as you'll ever see.

Kronwall suckered Havlat by taking a step back as though he were retreating, and that's when Havlat put his head down to locate the puck. What he didn't know was that Kronwall changed direction the instant Havlat looked away.

Brutal, violent and legal. A series-changing event.

2. Havlat plays

Sporting a concussion, Martin Havlat plays in Game 4 against Detroit, while Nikolai Khabibulin disappears.

A cynic might suggest Havlat was playing for a new contract, but any way you look at it, it was both foolish and incredibly courageous.

That Havlat, the one who cares, is a Havlat you want back. Would he do that sitting on a long-term contract?

1. The steal

The Blackhawks' season was minutes from being over in Game 4 against Vancouver.

They were about to go down 3-1 in the series, and for the second straight game were completely shut down by the Canucks' defense and goalie Roberto Luongo.

A defeat in Game 4 and what you now view as a successful playoff run would have been little more than a victory over a weakened, aging Calgary team and a lopsided defeat at the hands of Vancouver, probably in five games.

But Andrew Ladd stole a puck along the boards and dished a pass to Martin Havlat, who scored and sent the game to overtime, where Ladd tipped in a Dave Bolland shot to win it.

Ladd could have been freelancing with less than three minutes remaining and the Hawks down a goal, but he practiced what Joel Quenneville preached over and over again.

Ladd - who was a team-best plus-3 in the postseason while Patrick Kane was a club-worst minus-9 - stuck with the plan, was exactly where he was supposed to be, and saved the game, the series and the season.

It's symbolic of everything the Hawks learned this year and showed their faith in Quenneville and each other, and speaks to how far the team came under the new boss in just a few months.

For many, many years, when a Hawks season ended, you only wanted to pull the shades. Now, you've been offered a glimpse into the future, and it's so bright you gotta wear shades.