Smith starts Hawks’ golf season early
After Game 5, mechanical difficulties delayed the Blackhawks’ return from Phoenix as the club spent several idle hours in the Valley and got a late start to the long trip home.
It was as good a metaphor as any yet for the way the Hawks played this entire series.
They consistently started slow on the scoreboard, trailed late and were forced to rally, and Monday’s Game 6 at the UC was no different.
After dominating the first 30 minutes and failing to solve Coyotes goalie Mike Smith, they fell behind 1-0 after two periods, and Phoenix put them away in the third, capturing the contest 4-0 and the series 4 games to 2.
“It’s funny because I thought Corey Crawford was great in this series. He made it very difficult for us,” said Phoenix captain Shane Doan. “But the last month, Mike Smith has been on a roll as good as anything I’ve seen in my (16-year) career.
“He’s the most valuable player in hockey as far as I’m concerned.”
On that right now you’d get no argument from the Hawks.
They were as good for half a game Monday as this group can be. They even made adjustments, playing the game below the circles on offense for the first time all series, and getting better pressure on Smith than they had for the first five games.
But after 39 shots, they had nothing to show for it, while the Coyotes had only 20 shots — and needed just a single goal to eliminate the Hawks.
“It seems like all year, every crazy thing that could happen to us, happened to us,” Crawford said. “It’s hard to put it into focus five minutes after your season ends. It’s brutal to think it’s over.”
It’s over because the Hawks couldn’t do enough of the little things you have to do to win postseason hockey games, and still they were a bounce or two away from winning the series.
“Every game in this series seemed like the same game,” said Duncan Keith, who averaged nearly 30 minutes a contest. “We came out and did everything we wanted to do tonight, had the exact start we wanted, got all those chances and nothing happened.
“All of a sudden they get one and we’re chasing again.”
For five games they chased until they tied it and sent it to OT. Monday, they ran out of time and, eventually, defense as they tried to come back.
“You want to find a way to win the last game of the year every year,” said Jonathan Toews. “It’s very disappointing.”
But for the second straight year the Hawks go out in the first round, and they did not win a home game in the series, scoring 4 goals in three games at the UC.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t give more to our fans,” Toews said. “I feel bad about that, but we gave everything we had.”
At 11:30 p.m., nearly an hour after the game ended, from a suite high above the ice, a drunken voice yelled, “Shoot the puck! Shoot the puck, will ya?”
But shooting it wasn’t the problem. Getting pucks on net, with traffic, from high-percentage areas was a real problem. Tougher players who live in those areas is part of the answer for next season.
“We have some great young players with a great future in this room,” Toews said. “But you don’t want to be here now talking about that. You want to be playing.
“This is a reminder of how bad losing is, and how bad you want to win. This feeling is not good.”
Also not feeling well is Marian Hossa, who is barely up on his feet at this point.
“I always look back at a series, and there’s a defining situation that you could say was a turning point,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said when asked about Hossa getting hurt. “I thought that was probably one.”
Hossa or not, the Hawks clearly lacked the sandpaper to make a long playoff run.
“We didn’t expect this series to be over quick,” said Coyotes forward Lauri Korpikoski. “We were mentally prepared to go as far as we needed to go.”
They don’t have to go any farther. They move on to face Nashville.
The Hawks move to the golf course.
brozner@dailyherald.com
ŸListen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score’s “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM, and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.