For those of you wondering when Patrick Kane would make his presence felt in this Western Conference final, you got your answer on Saturday. Kane's three goals secured a 4-3 double-overtime win over the Kings in Game 5 and another trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the Blackhawks.
2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs nightly GIF recap: Patty’s day in Chicago
Patrick Kane’s hat trick clinched Chicago’s berth in the Stanley Cup Final.
To win, L.A. needed its goalie to be great. Jonathan Quick fell short.
It didn’t help that his defensemen were ... well, I’m not exactly sure what they were doing here. But it wasn’t good.
Down 2-0 after one period, the Kings came out of the first intermission with much more energy. It paid off when Dwight King tapped in a shorthanded goal to bring L.A. within one.
Noticing a trend? Game 5 was not a good night for goalie five-holes. Anze Kopitar took advantage of that early in the third period to tie the game up at two apiece.
Los Angeles kept looking more and more dangerous as the game wore on, but the Kings couldn't find a way to break through Corey Crawford. Unfortunately for L.A., Kane seemed to have figured everything out about Quick.
That looked like the dagger in the Kings' backs, but Mike Richards dragged his team from the brink of elimination with a nifty little deflection with 10 seconds left in regulation.
On to overtime we went. After his overtime goal eliminated the Red Wings in the previous round, you were probably wondering if Brent Seabrook would be an overtime hero again.
Not quite.
Instead, Patrick Kane clinched a trip to the Stanley Cup Final with his hat-trick goal in the second overtime.
See if you can spot Patrick Kane. You can’t.
The Blackhawks will take on the Boston Bruins in Game 1 on Wednesday -- the first Stanley Cup Final game between two Original Six teams since 1979. Get used to that stat, because you'll hear it over and over again for the next two weeks.
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