Blackhawks' Patrick Kane's got 'the wow factor'
Patrick Kane is closing in fast — the puck dancing on his stick.
His eyes are up — darting here and there — looking for that sliver of unprotected space, that spot where the puck is about to go in a millisecond.
Then — WHOOSH! — there it goes at 80 or 90 mph and right on target.
It's a goalie's worst nightmare.
“He's certainly one of the best, if not the best, player in the world,” Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk said last week just before his team was swept by the Blackhawks in the Western Conference semifinals.
Dubnyk thought he could solve Kane, but as many have found before — and many will find after — those answers are few and far between.
“We are spoiled in a lot of ways,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We (have) some top guys you get to watch here as a team and they make our team go in a lot of ways. But Kaner, he's got the ‘wow factor' along with that consistency in his game.”
His playoff consistency — be it this year, last year or back to 2010 — has been nothing short of extraordinary. Just 26 years old, Kane ranks ninth among active players in total playoff points (104) and no one ahead of him is younger.
But it's not just the goals or the assists.
As Q said, it's the “wow factor.”
It's Jordan at the buzzer. It's Elway, Brady or Montana with the game on the line. It's Reggie Jackson in October. It's Tiger or Jack on Sunday.
That's Kaner.
“I just think those special moments late in games he wants the puck,” Quenneville said.
No doubt about that — just ask the Flyers (2010 Final), Kings (2013 West finals), Blues (2014 first round), and Wild (2014 West semis). Kane ended playoff games against each of those teams in overtime. And let's not forget the opening-round goal he scored against the Predators in 2010 with Nashville just seconds away from a 3-2 series lead. Instead, Kane put on his cape, scored short-handed, no less, and the Hawks went on to win on Marian Hossa's OT goal.
Close your eyes and many of you can envision each of those moments and the bedlam that ensued.
Why?
Because each one was huge. Flat-out clutch.
“He's a remarkable player. We all know that,” said Denis Savard, who was Kane's first NHL coach and used a football analogy when describing the Hawks' superstar. “He likes to run with the ball — he'll run with it if you give it to him. He's not afraid of success.”
That dominance and clutch play has continued right into this postseason, one in which he wasn't even supposed to be available until the Western Conference finals.
Remember these?
• Six seconds left in the first period of Game 6 vs. Nashville to tie the game at 3-3.
• Twenty seconds left in the first period of Game 2 vs. the Wild to make it 2-0 Hawks.
• The only goal of Game 3 vs. the Wild.
• And yet another goal in the clincher against Minnesota, with 6:40 left remaining to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead.
Each of those goals was a big reason why Quenneville's squad advanced so easily through the first two rounds. What if Kane wasn't available until now? Would there even be a “now” for the Hawks? Great question — and one fans are lucky they don't have to ponder.
That Game 2 goal against the Wild is one that left many speechless, including Hawks radio analyst Troy Murray, who marveled most at the 100-foot pass from Duncan Keith to Kane. But then it was up to Kane to bury the shot, which wowed even the great Savard.
“I'm a fan of watching him play. Under pressure, he's incredible. He's got so much poise. Anybody would let that shot go before (he did). He waits til the last second,” Savard said. “That's where it makes the difference — it's tough to read because he'll wait until the last second to let that puck go. …
“Even though you think somebody's going to get a stick on his shot, they don't. He just finds a way to get it off just at the right time.”
Dubnyk said almost the exact same thing last week.
“He's got a ton of patience and a lot of vision when he has the puck, so you know he's never going to rush anything,” he said. “When you're able to do that you're able to execute. That's why it becomes extremely important to limit his time and space because he's one of the best.”
Kane is riding a seven-game point streak into Sunday's Game 1 against Anaheim, and he's scoring on a ridiculous 24.1 percent of his shots.
Corey Crawford goes up against Kane year after year and while it's just practice, he can tell you what makes the Buffalo native so difficult to stop.
“His shot is really quick and accurate,” Crawford said. “He gives you different looks. He's pretty good at changing the angle on a goalie so you think you have something covered and he changes the angle real quick so there's a little bit more net open.
“I could probably talk for a while about him. He's that good a player.”
So good as to be mentioned among the NHL's greats after just eight seasons? Savard certainly thinks so.
“There's nobody you can compare (Wayne) Gretzky to,” Savard said. “And I don't think that you'll be able to compare Patrick Kane at the end of his career when it's all said and done to anybody. He'll have his own identity.”