Imrem: Hawks' No. 1 goal is to keep Keith going
Forget getting any of his teammates going.
Keeping Duncan Keith going is the Blackhawks' key for however much longer the Stanley Cup Final lasts.
If the all-star defenseman runs out of energy, the Hawks as a whole probably will, and they'll maintain zero hope of beating the Lightning.
If Keith has something left, at least there's hope.
There certainly is hope after the Hawks beat the Lightning 2-1 Wednesday night to even the series at two victories apiece.
Keith was his customarily action-packed self during 29:07 of ice time after playing 31:37 two nights earlier.
"It's like the more he plays the better he plays," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
There Keith was against the Lightning, stripping Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn of the puck. There he was smacking Ryan Callahan in the back of the head. There he was absorbing hits from Braydon Coburn and Nikita Kucherov.
Keith leads all Hawks in minutes in this series and all NHL players in minutes throughout the postseason.
"He's pretty amazing," NHL.com has quoted Niklas Hjalmarsson as saying. "He could be a great (cross-country) skier or Tour de France (cyclist)."
Keith has played so much during the Hawks' four playoff rounds that it would be easy to think three different players have "KEITH 2" on their jerseys.
If the Hawks' championship aspirations could be doubted, it was that their tanks would empty before the playoffs ended.
In the Western Conference finals, the Ducks tried to wear the Hawks down with physicality. In the Stanley Cup Final, the Lightning is trying to wear them out with speed.
Well, here the Hawks still are, heading to Tampa for Game 5 on Saturday night.
In a series that has been exhausting to watch, much less play, the Hawks generally and Keith specifically continue to draw from their reserve tanks.
Maybe the current Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals signal a new mindset in sports.
Keith and LeBron James of the Cavaliers are playing crazy minutes. Why? Because they want to win.
How refreshing.
It might not culminate in a championship for either, but their sacrifices are noble just the same.
Sports have been loafing through an era where the norm became less is more.
Pitchers are shut down before the season ends to protect their arms. Basketball players are rested today to save them for tomorrow. Running backs are rotated to keep them fresh.
Athletes used to miss time because they were injured; now they sit out because they might suffer an injury.
Not this postseason. Not Duncan Keith and LeBron James. Not with NHL and NBA championships in the balance.
Keith's workload pretty much is the equivalent of the 46 minutes of a 48-minute game that James played Tuesday in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
The more minutes, the more stress on the body, the more vulnerable body parts become, the more chance there is of serious injury.
Yet Keith and James continue to play on, each searching for his third championship.
If that's Keith's only priority, his only option is to keep playing and keep playing and keep playing.
"He prepares well," Quenneville said of Keith. "He's a great player and fun to coach."
Like Duncan Keith, every time the Hawks look tired they muster more energy and shift into a higher gear.
How refreshing indeed.