Coyotes end Blackhawks’ season in convincing fashion
The smiling Phoenix front-office guy had the perfect explanation for what the Blackhawks, a sold-out crowd at the United Center and anyone who had tuned into Game 6 on Monday night had just witnessed.
“It was the old Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope,” he said, explaining how the Coyotes had survived an absolute offensive onslaught by the Hawks early on, started fighting their way back midway through, and eventually pulled away late for a 4-0 victory to capture their first playoff series since the franchise moved to Phoenix in 1996.
And starring as The Greatest on this night, as he had been for most of the series, was Phoenix goalie Mike Smith. He single-handedly kept the Coyotes in the game while the Hawks were outshooting them 16-2 through one period and 28-8 through 40 minutes.
“Mike Smith had a special game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “To come out of that first period scoreless was like a moral victory for them.”
The man who was booed every time he touched the puck in the United Center won there for the third and final time in this series for the Coyotes who move on to play Nashville.
“The last couple games I thought really they were tight because of Mike Smith,” Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said of a wild series that began with five straight overtime decisions. “The game tonight … I think you got a look at the hockey gods were shining down on us tonight.
“Chicago came out and played just a heck of a game in the first two periods. They just dominated. I was telling the guys after the game, we were pretty good after we got up 4-0, but before that it was Mike Smith.”
Added captain Shane Doan: “You know what? Smitty was unbelievable, and thankfully he’s on our team.”
While the Coyotes celebrated their first series win since 1987, when they still were the Winnipeg Jets, the Blackhawks were eliminated in the first round for the second consecutive season.
“You don’t want to go out on a loss like we did tonight,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “It’s disappointing for this group; I feel like we had so much more than what we ended up showing.”
On the heels of their thrilling comeback victory Saturday in Arizona, and with the way the Hawks hit the ice Monday, it looked a good bet there would be a Game 7 on Wednesday.
But it was not to be.
“You play that well and you put that much pressure on a team and they don’t break and you don’t find a hole,” Toews said. “I don’t really know what else we were supposed to do.
“We gave it everything … we just didn’t get the results.”
mspellman@dailyherald.com