June 8 postgame quotes: Chicago

Joel Quenneville, on previously wanting “more” from Patrick Kane:
“That was more than more. It was certainly an outstanding game by him. A great play, winning goal by Johnny. I thought Kaner played a heck of a game in Games 4 and 5 for us, led with having the puck a lot. Time of possession was very high end.”

Quenneville, on whether there was anything “different with Kane:
“Yeah, he stepped up. He took on the responsibility of leading the team. Proven he’s a top player in the game. He made special plays over the two games. Nice to see him finish it off in a real positive way for us. But, you know, top players, they want to be great all the time. Finding a way to be great in the tight checking that many teams have in our league, commend him on two outstanding games.”

Quenneville, on returning to the Stanley Cup Final:
“We’ve had an interesting playoffs. I think as we progressed here, had an ordinary start in the first series, on the ropes, three games against Detroit. I thought we’ve gotten better as we’ve gone along in these playoffs. You look back over several games of your career, that was a game you’ll always remember. That was an amazing hockey game. Give L.A. credit. You go up a goal late in the game. The guys, commend them, staying positive, persevering. L.A. might have played their best in overtime this series. Finding a way was exactly what we were looking for.”

Quenneville, on the team’s response after allowing the game-tying goal:
“Yeah, I think we had the approach when we left the bench, you know, it was almost like, ‘Wow!’ Going in the locker room, be positive, find a way. But they certainly came at us in the overtime.”

Quenneville, on Corey Crawford’s growth:
“You’ve got to commend him on how he’s played all year long. I think the consistency, his approach where he just moves forward to see the next situation, the next shot. Unflappable in that area. He’s moved us along here. Guys have responded in front of him. But Corey has been rock solid. I think his rebound control, his movement, you know, handling the puck has really been — really done a nice job in this playoff.”

Quenneville, on whether it was to Chicago’s advantage that the game took as long as it did:
“You know, they played some tough games, a couple tough series. But we certainly went through an emotional series with Detroit. You know, overtime, you got to get a break. Obviously special pass, special shot ended it. But it’s tough to say. You know, obviously you need a break. We got the first one.”

Quenneville, on whether a “letdown” was “inevitable” after the early “flurry”:
“I don’t know if letdown is the word. They got the Cup. For all the right reasons, they’re one of the teams that are going to keep coming at you. Losing a shorthanded game, you’re going to lose some momentum. Then penalty killing. Now it’s a hockey game. It was very close. I don’t necessarily want to say high-quality chances. It was one of those games, very nerve-wracking from the fans’ point of view, exciting at our bench level, but definitely had some highs and lows. I don’t think you can have that gap any wider than was out there tonight.”

Quenneville, on Duncan Keith’s first game back following his suspension:
“I thought he had an outstanding start to the game. Logged 40 minutes. Was out there with a great gap. Cut up and stopped several plays with a quick stick. He was over it when it happened. Put it behind him. I’m sure he was excited about playing tonight. Got a rare opportunity, one of those bag skates in L.A. Let’s go.”

Quenneville, on Bryan Bickell, and whether he had to speak with him after his third period penalty led to a game-tying goal by Anze Kopitar:
“Commend Bick. He still does a lot of things. He creates a lot through the rush, in the puck area, around the net, finishing touches. I thought Bick had an amazing series. We want him to keep playing like that. Sometimes you get called on it, but we don’t want him to change much.”

Quenneville, on two Original Six teams meeting in the Final:
“It’s a special couple places, the tradition of the Bruins and the Hawks is special. I’m sure, you know, the rivalry could return instantly come Game 1. I think it’s good for the league. It’s good for hockey. Two great hockey markets. We’re very excited to be a part of it.”

Quenneville, on not having faced Boston in the regular season:
“Yeah, I think everybody was speculating that at the beginning of the year, how was that going to play out. I’m sure we got to see Boston quite a bit. I’m sure they watched every bit of our games. They’re on an amazing roll. They were on the ropes in one game, we were on the ropes for three. They got a lot of momentum where they’re at right now. Should set up for a great final.”

Patrick Kane, on his performance in Game 5:
“Well, I mean, it’s nice. It’s nice to win, first and foremost. To contribute the last couple games, I think any player would be lying to you if they said it isn’t nice. You know what, big two wins the last couple games, especially tonight, after they came back and tied it up with nine seconds. For us to hang in there in the first overtime and pull it out in the second overtime was huge. We definitely didn’t want to go back to L.A. Just a huge win to get us to the Final.”

Kane, where he would place this game amongst other games in his career:
“Right now it feels like the best. I think June 10th or June 9th a few years ago was also a good night. But right now I think it’s almost like I’m in a different zone, like in the twilight zone or something. I’m kind of out of it. It’s definitely a good feeling, though.”

Kane, on what he remembers about his third goal, and whether he was slashed prior to the rush:
“Yeah. Was that the same shift? I took the puck to the middle. I thought I got slashed a few times. The puck kind of came off me. The shift went on, I guess. Bicksy made a nice chip. Johnny won
the battle on the boards to take off on a two-on-one. You know, the shift before, actually Johnny had the same play and the puck fumbled on him. I knew he was coming back to me. Just tried to wait for the defenseman to go by me. Tried to get it off as quick as I could in the net.”

Kane, on comparing the Hjalmarsson waved-off goal versus Detroit and Mike Richards’ late goal:
“At first it’s tough giving up a goal that late. I actually thought L.A. kind of took it to us in the first overtime. But both teams had a couple chances here and there. I think we just wanted to stick with it. Like Johnny said, it was one chance away. We obviously got that chance and finished it off. But I think everyone was pretty confident, to be honest with you. You’ve seen that before I think in Game 6 a few years ago. I think Hartnell tied it up late. We scored in the next overtime. It was kind of the same thing obviously a little bit later. With nine seconds left it hurts, maybe takes the wind out of your sails a little bit. For us to hang in there the first overtime was huge. I thought Crawford made some big saves and we ended up pulling it out.”

Kane, on the effect of Joel Quenneville asking for more from him:
“Yeah, I mean, I expected more from myself. My teammates probably did, too. You know, I tried to get back to the basics and wanted the puck, get the puck, try and make plays. That’s kind of my attitude right now, I guess, is to do that. You know, when you’re playing with Bicksy and Toews the last few games, you’re going to get those opportunities. A couple nice plays by them tonight. They take up a lot of space at the net. I think I was the guy that capitalized on the chances. But it’s always nice to contribute, especially in games like this.”

Kane, on “the grind” of the second overtime:
“Yeah, I mean, you know, it was tough. We were laughing about it after the game. If you watch the bench after we score to win the game, it almost seems like it was just another goal because no one could celebrate because we were all so tired. I only played 28 minutes. You got to ask this guy, he played 40 over here. He probably knows better than us.”

Jonathan Toews, on the Kings tying the game late and Chicago’s response:
“Yeah, that’s a tough feeling. I honestly don’t think there’s a worse feeling in hockey, when your nine seconds away. You know you have to get the puck out. Two little bounces go against you, next thing you know it’s in your net. Your heart sinks pretty quick. We just tried to tell each other in the locker room that we can’t be thinking about what could have been, we have to just turn the page, get over it, it’s the only way you’re going to move on and win the game. You know, they came at us hard in the first overtime period, maybe had most of the puck possession in our zone. But we stuck with it. We had great goaltending. We know when we get to overtime it’s just one chance, that’s all we need, one lucky bounce that’s going to go in. Here we are. We’re feeling pretty good. We’re going back in the Stanley Cup Final. We’re pretty excited about that.”

Toews, on whether returning from a 3-1 deficit versus Detroit helps when facing adversity:
“Absolutely. I mean, we played great hockey throughout the regular season. We were able to get to the top of the league and stay there for most of the time. You know that you’re not going to go through a lot of things you go through throughout the playoffs. I don’t think you get a chance to play for the Stanley Cup without going through moments like we have. You got to persevere. Even though this is just a five-game series, we felt like there were some tough moments, too. Every time we dealt with it head on. I think the feeling and the confidence that we got from coming back from that 3-1 deficit against Detroit, I think that gives you a lot of confidence. Here we are again. We got a great chance to go back to where we want to be. We know there’s going to be some more tough moments that we’ll have to battle through. We’re confident we can do that as a team.”

Toews, on how much credit Corey Crawford deserves:
“I think he certainly deserves all the credit in the world and then some. I mean, he’s doing it all. He’s one of the huge reasons we’re still here and we’re still playing. Personally, he’s had to battle and he’s had to go through some tough times, like anybody else. He’s persevered. Here you see him playing his best hockey of his career, helps his team compete for a Stanley Cup. Any credit that he gets, it’s much deserved. We know he’s probably the most important player on our team right now. We’re trying our best every game to help him out.”

Toews, on whether his game is coming together “at the right time”:
“Absolutely. I think Kaner will agree that once you see one puck go in, I mean, for me, regardless of who scores the goal, if you’re out on the ice, you’re part of the action, contributing on an offensive play that ends up in a goal, it helps a lot with your confidence. I think it just helps you relax every time you get the puck afterwards. It’s definitely a good feeling to see a few pucks go in these last couple games. I think for the most part we just have the puck a lot and we’re creating plays. With Bicksy going to the net, he’s picking up rebounds, second efforts. I think for the most part Bicks and I are able to create space for Kaner. He was the finisher tonight. It was nice to see Kaner have that success. Obviously we want to keep that going.”

Toews, on the difference from last year, when the Blackhawks lost in the first round:
“I think it’s a very fine line. Coming into the playoffs, being the Presidents’ Trophy winner, I think that puts a lot of pressure on your team. Everyone expects you to cruise all the way there. There’s no such thing as just cruising to the Stanley Cup Final. The guys in this room that were there in 2010 and have been there since understand that. We know what it takes. Everyone else is following suit. We know what we have to do to win these important games. Everyone’s setting aside their personal agenda for that. There’s no other way to do it. We have the ability, the talent, but most of all we’re hungry to get back to where we were in 2010. We have a great opportunity to do it. In the meantime we definitely went through some tough times and some trials. That’s all part of it. Not everything is going to go your way whenever you want it to. Like Dunks said, this opportunity doesn’t come too often. I think we all realize that this time around. We’re ready to take advantage of it.”

Duncan Keith, on scoring in the first period back from his suspension:
“Felt good to get back in. Felt good for the first 10 minutes anyway. But it was nice to see that one go in. I didn’t really expect it to. I was just trying to get it on net. The whole suspension thing, obviously I’ve said enough about it. It wasn’t what I meant to do, even though it didn’t look very good. You know, I talked to Jeff a little bit. I know him from the Team Canada camps, playing against him a little bit. You know, he’s obviously a great player. It was good to see him come back when he did. But, you know, I’ve got a lot of respect for a guy like that, for him, the way he plays, how hard he is to play against.”

Keith, on returning to the Stanley Cup Final:
“Obviously we’re excited to get there. We know that Boston is going to be real tough. We’ve seen some of their games, especially the last series there. Sweeping Pittsburgh I think says it all right there with the amount of firepower Pittsburgh had, what they were able to do to a team like that. We know that we’re going to have to be at our best and we’re going to have to play a good team game to beat these guys. We’re excited to get back there. I think you don’t get back there very often. I just saw on the ticker that Jagr hadn’t been back in 21 years. These opportunities don’t come back all the time. I think we want to make the best of it.”

Keith, on whether his goal early in the first period gave the team momentum:
“Yeah, against a team like L.A., we always want to score first. I think going forward it’s going to be similar playing a team like Boston. Really trying to get it on net. I didn’t even see it go in, to be honest with you. When you see the light, hear the fans, obviously it’s a good feeling. It gives us that momentum right away. I think at home, using the energy of the crowd, too, helps. There’s no secret that I think going forward, we want to have good starts. We were able to do that tonight. A little frustrating not being able to hold on to our lead, but we were able to get the win at the end.