Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews Comes Through When Most Needed to Tie Up Series

CHICAGO — Jonathan Toews was practically invisible during the first three games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.

While the Chicago Blackhawks were receiving steady contributions from their supporting cast, Toews spent most of the series wondering how to solve a line led by Cedric Paquette of all people. One assist was all Toews mustered to start the Final, a particularly troubling figure considering he was playing 21 minutes per game and his team was down 2-1 in the series. 
Maybe it was about Toews being due; maybe it was about him being clutch. Either way, the Blackhawks captain once again brought his best when the team needed it most, scoring the first goal in Game 4 as the Blackhawks defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Wednesday night at the United Center to even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. 
Toews and his newly formed line with Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa did most of the heavy lifting on defense as well, silencing Tyler Johnson and his linemates during their frequent matchups in Game 4.
This is what Toews and just about all of the Blackhawks' big-name players have done this postseason—when staring into the abyss, they find a way to make the abyss blink. 

"He scores goals and has those big moments in big-time games," Sharp said of Toews. "Good for him. Nothing fazes him. He tries to win every battle out there, and he usually does. That's why he's the captain of the team."
Brandon Saad, who is cementing his position as part of the Blackhawks core that shines brightest during adverse conditions, scored the winner six minutes and 22 seconds into the third, with an assist from Patrick Kane.
Goaltender Corey Crawford, who has been inconsistent at best in this series, stopped 24 of 25 Tampa Bay shot attempts and allowed his teammates to survive a Lightning onslaught in the final two minutes with four massive saves. 
Sharp and Marian Hossa assisted on Toews' goal. The Blackhawks' top six forwards—Toews, Saad, Hossa, Sharp, Kane and Brad Richards—accounted for 14 of the team's 19 shots against a suffocating Lightning defense that wasn't offering much in Game 4. 
It seems physically impossible to throw a team on your back when it's against a wall, but that's what the Blackhawks' stars did again Wednesday.
"I think everybody in the locker room felt we needed to play better and take a step in our team game," Sharp said. "The so-called big guys always have that pressure on their shoulders. They want to make that difference. I think that's why we've been a successful team here for the last seven, eight years is because those guys love those moments and want the puck on their stick." 

Maybe it's cliche—no, it's definitely cliche—but Toews is the leader of this team and sets that all-important tone in games of this magnitude. "It's mostly the captain here," the 22-year-old Saad said. "You watch and learn the way he plays and competes. His passion out there is bar none."
Toews has a career-high 10 goals this postseason, with seven either putting the Blackhawks ahead or pulling them into a tie. He scored the first two goals of Game 7, against the Anaheim Ducks, during the Western Conference Final and two late goals in Game 5 to send the contest to overtime. 
In Game 4 against the Lightning, the Blackhawks were worked over pretty hard during a first period that saw the Lightning hold a 9-2 edge in shots. Rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who got the surprise start between the pipes for the injured Ben Bishop, didn't need to move while replacing a goaltender who can barely move.
Toews didn't exactly beat Vasilevskiy with a five-hole breakaway goal early in the second period, but his goal that banked off the goaltender came after Sharp had a breakaway chance. A few seconds later, Hossa whipped a puck from the blue line that hit a cutting Sharp and came to rest for Toews to indirectly shoot home.

 

The best Blackhawks were finally the best Blackhawks.
"No matter what the situation, whether down in the series, down in a hockey game, whatever it may be, we play our best with our backs against the wall," Kane said. "I'm not saying we played our best hockey game, but we found a way to win.
"This team has a lot of experience, and we can draw from [the] best situations to help us. We know these are great opportunities that aren't really going to come around every season or every couple [of] years, we want to take advantage of them." 
It's a best-of-three now, and with Lightning coach Jon Cooper saying after the game that he expects Bishop to play at some point in this series and not necessarily Game 5 in Tampa on Saturday, a third title in six years is there for the Blackhawks' taking.
And if the Blackhawks hoist the Cup in the next week, it will almost definitely be because Toews and this team's elite forwards made it happen. 
"They have the experience, and they have the killer instinct to be those key players and to get it done," said Andrew Desjardins, an acquisition at this year's trade deadline. "I think skill obviously helps. They're all-around players. When you have world-class players like that, they find a way."