Rozner: Blackhawks' desire to keep season alive is moving

The Blackhawks may be easy to put down, but they are never easy to put away.

Once again facing elimination, the Blackhawks did not go quietly into the night - or the dawn of summer, if you will - preferring at least one more raucous hockey game to the quiet calm of a serene golf course.

The Hawks forced a Game 7 in the Western Conference finals with a 5-2 victory at the UC Wednesday night, and the two teams will have an extra day of rest as they await Saturday's pressure-packed finale in Anaheim.

It's difficult to be unmoved by the desire of a group to stay together, to need more hockey when it would be easy to give up the fight against a ferocious opponent.

The Hawks know that there will be familiar faces departing this summer whether or not they win it all, and they know there will be a new group in place come October.

But they don't want it to end, and they aren't ready to say so long.

"We want to play a lot more hockey together," said Brandon Saad. "But right now we can only think about one game."

The Hawks seem intent again on reaching the Stanley Cup Final after giving away that opportunity a year ago, and they will not bend simply because the Ducks are trying to break them.

"It's playoff hockey and it's late in the year," said Andrew Shaw. "Two teams trying to get to the last series. It's not supposed to be easy."

It's also not supposed to be as difficult as the Hawks sometimes make it on themselves, but no longer is their head coach surprised when they battle back to tie a game or a series.

"Never," said Joel Quenneville. "You saw what happened in Game 5, that ending there. That answers that question."

A remarkably good series for five games looked anything but in the first period Wednesday as two exhausted teams struggled to find their legs, but the Hawks exploded in the second period with 3 goals in 3:45 to take command.

In desperation mode, Quenneville went "nuclear option" with Patrick Kane replacing a suddenly-old Marian Hossa on a line with Saad and Jonathan Toews, and that line opened the scoring.

"Those two are so good by themselves, but you put (Kane and Toews) together and they're a dynamic duo," Saad said with a smile. "They're fun to play with, but you have to be ready for anything."

Nearing the middle of the second in a scoreless game, Duncan Keith hit a standing Kane at center ice and he tipped it to Saad, who walked in alone and beat Frederik Andersen for a 1-0 lead at 8:23.

Two minutes later, Keith found Hossa - skating with Brad Richards and Bryan Bickell - at the bottom of the right circle and Hossa scored short-side on the ice to put the Hawks up a pair.

Kane then did it all by himself when he danced around the Ducks' zone until he found open ice and shot it through Andersen for a 3-0 lead with 7:52 left in the second, Keith assisting on all 3 goals.

Anaheim got on the board 7 seconds into a Richards penalty when the Ducks won the faceoff and Corey Crawford was again hit by Corey Perry as Patrick Maroon redirected a shot past Crawford.

The Hawks took that 3-1 lead into the third period and Anaheim moved closer only 1:57 in when Jakob Silfverberg was cruising through the slot and clipped Crawford's mitt just as Clayton Stoner shot high glove side.

From there, the Hawks had to hang on for dear life as the Ducks pressed for the game-tying goal.

"We know their success in the third period and how they come and they haven't been beat in regulation," Quenneville said. "They had a good push in the third and we knew we'd have to spend some time in our end."

They spent a good portion of the period in the Chicago end, but the Hawks were also winning board battles when it mattered most.

"There must have been 20 of them," Crawford said. "Our guys fought hard. It was impressive."

Still 3-2 with under five minutes to play, Andrew Desjardins tapped a puck to an onrushing Shaw, who - with Ryan Getzlaf draped all over him - flipped a backhander high glove side for a 4-2 lead, and then Shaw iced it with 48.8 seconds remaining into an empty net.

It meant the Hawks were still alive with dreams of a Cup.

"It's a great chance and a great opportunity," Quenneville said. "You don't get many (chances) to win the Cup. You get deeper and deeper in the postseason and all of a sudden the reality comes clearer.

"You don't want to lose out on it for any one thing. You leave it all out there. You find every single possible way to move ahead."

The Hawks may not have much left, but they will leave it all out there again Saturday.

And hope for one more series together.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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