seven straight at home. But Philly’s luck persistence finally ran out when Patrick Kane scored the winner in period 4. (Even if no one—not even Chris Pronger—could locate the game-winning puck for what seemed like six minutes.)
The ’61 edition of the Blackhawks, nearly a half-century ago, was piloted by a dependable shutdown Canadian D-man, Pierre Pilote. So was this one: Duncan Keith. Toothless and ruthless, Keith—arguably a deserved Conn Smythe hoister—played an integral role in ending the NHL’s longest current Cup drought. Though Game 6 was far from perfect—some whistle-happy refereeing, a fluky game-tying goal by Philly, a five-holer Flyers goalie Michael Leighton should’ve stopped—it could not have been sweeter for Marian Hossa. The frequent free agent was a threat to make the finals in three consecutive years with three different teams—and lose all three. But Hossa and the Hawks made like an unnatural blonde redeemed: they had their ugly streaks vanquished.
By drinking from the ol’ glory chalice, the Hawks’ skilled core of twentysomethings—Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp—provided the finish to match the flash they showed in last year’s postseason. Though he didn’t register a goal in the final series, Conn Smyth winner/face-off specialist Captain Toews assured us that the “w” in his last name stands for “victory.” And Dustin Byfuglien seized the game’s grandest stage (Olympics notwithstanding) to become a star. With a whopping 40 goals notched in the first five games, this was the most prolific scoring start to a Stanley Cup Final since 1981. (Or, as my wife so delicately put it, “Both goalies suck.”) Steady scoring is one reason why the Blackhawks claimed the most-viewed-by-Americans Stanley Cup Final in eight years, averaging 4.6 million viewers in the U.S.*
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