The biggest game of their season.
That’s what the Blackhawks said as they headed into Minnesota to face the division-leading Wild.
Patrick Kane said it. Joel Quenneville said it. It must be official.
And so, what did we get out of the Hawks’ 4-3 overtime win?
The Hawks picked up a point on the division leaders.
The Hawks blew leads of 2-0 in the second period and 3-2 in the third before winning the gimmicked-up overtime that has nothing to do with real hockey.
The Hawks had four days rest while the Wild were playing the second game of a back-to-back, and the Hawks still were out-chanced badly in the most dangerous areas and lost the Corsi puck-possession metric while skating five-on-five.
So, again, what did we get out of this so-called big game?
That it wasn’t a big game.
Calling it a big game is the type of lie or fake motivation that teams gin up during the six-month regular season. How big of a game is Wednesday’s if the Hawks don’t pick up points in Winnipeg and Edmonton on Friday and Saturday?
Sure, the Hawks needed the points Wednesday night as they try to clinch the best possible playoff spot, but they’re going to qualify, and then come the big games. Big games only come in April, May and June, and the Hawks, of all teams, know it.
The biggest game of the year is the one that can eliminate them from the playoffs. That’s all that matters — that one game, like Game 7 against the Blues last April. Or Games 6 and 7 against the Ducks in the Stanley Cup spring of 2015. Or Games 5, 6 and 7 that sent home the evil, dreaded Red Wings during that championship run in 2013.
The Hawks taught you that only the playoffs matter. “One goal," remember?
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on the OT win over Minnesota
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on the team’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Wild. (Chris Hine/Chicago Tribune)
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on the team’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Wild. (Chris Hine/Chicago Tribune)
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So, sorry, I’m not buying the idea that Wednesday night was a statement game, unless the statement is Hawks can’t dominate a tired team starting its No. 2 goalie and still have trouble protecting leads in the third period.
Yeah, the Wild are having a good regular season, but notice the key phrase: regular season.
Yeah, the Wild have a terrific defense and a great goal differential. Again, that’s in the regular season.
The Wild still haven’t beaten the Hawks in a playoff series, losing three straight, so no regular-season glory convinces me they can do it until they actually do it, same as when the Hawks won their first of three Cups in the last decade.
Teams amass good, young talent. Teams fly through great regular seasons. Teams play so fast that opponents can’t keep up. But until they do it in April, May and June, they’ve done nothing.
Just look at the Capitals. They post great regular season after great regular season, but Gary Bettman still hasn’t handed Lord Stanley’s silver chalice to Alex Ovechkin.
Or look at Bruce Boudreau. Under Boudreau’s coaching, the Caps won their division three straight seasons and then finished second, but either way, they never advanced past the second round.
Then Boudreau went to Anaheim where the Ducks finished first in his four full seasons but never reached a Stanley Cup Final.
The closest they came was in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, but Boudreau got pantsed at home in Game 7 by Quenneville when the Ducks had the last line change but never got the right line out there, and bang, Jonathan Toews scored twice in the first 12 minutes.
Now Boudreau is coaching the Wild to a great regular season. Where have we heard that before?
A great regular season mocks a team when it fails to live up to that standing in the playoffs, and it happens often because playoff hockey asphyxiates. The rink shrinks. The open areas of the regular season close quicker if they’re open at all. Every slight weakness seems to be leveraged into a big goal against. That goes for coaches as well as players.
Quenneville and the Hawks know what a big game is, and it wasn’t Wednesday night in Minnesota.
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