With conference finals filled with OT, forward recalls his 5 postseason winners
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Patrick Kane loves overtime in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It isn’t 3-on-3, and there is no shootout like in the regular season. It’s 5-on-5 until someone scores and ends the game — and maybe the series and the season. There is pressure, fatigue, opportunity.
“In those situations,” he said, “any time there’s a little breakdown or a little space, you’re thinking, ‘OK, this could be the moment. This could be it that something happens.’”
Out of the seven games in the conference finals so far this season, four have gone to OT, including the Florida Panthers’ 3-2 win against the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Tuesday that tied the best-of-7 series 2-2.
Kane has scored five playoff overtime goals, tied with Glenn Anderson, Corey Perry and Carter Verhaeghe for third in NHL history behind Joe Sakic (eight) and Maurice Richard (six). He has scored in double OT twice. He has scored to avoid elimination, advance to the Western Conference Final, advance to the Stanley Cup Final and win the Stanley Cup.
The forward won the Cup three times while playing with the Chicago Blackhawks from 2007-23. He finished the 2022-23 season with the Rangers, spent most of this season with the Detroit Red Wings and can become an unrestricted free agent July 1.
“I always felt like I kind of thrived in overtime, because I feel like I always kind of played so loose,” he said. “You see a lot of guys in overtime. They might tighten up, or they might be worried about making a mistake, and I feel like when you do that, you’re prone to making even more mistakes.
“[Former Chicago teammate Patrick Sharp] would always say I’m just all, like, chill out there and just playing the game that I’ve played my whole life. That works to my advantage.
“But yeah, you always want to be the guy to be counted on in those situations, whether it’s overtime or late moments in the game, to come up, score a big goal for your team, whatever it is. I always try to be good in those moments.”
The 33-year-old is a hockey savant. He can remember the details of each of his playoff overtime goals: where his team was in the series, how the play unfolded, what he was thinking, who was in net.
“I think every kid when they’re growing up dreams of scoring a Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime, right?” he said. “To do that at 21 years old was pretty surreal. It was almost like it didn’t really happen at the moment.
“Especially in that game, there’s so many ups and downs. You’re just kind of hoping the team would win. You get to overtime. You don’t think you’d ever be the guy. But throw a puck on net and see it go in, and the rest is history.”
Kane sent the Blackhawks back to the Cup Final on June 8, 2013, when he completed a hat trick at 11:40 of double OT to defeat the Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final. He said he hung back on a 2-on-1 so he could one-time a pass from captain Jonathan Toews, because he had noticed something about goalie Jonathan Quick on a similar play on the previous shift.
“I remember going back to the bench saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to hang back a little bit here, maybe a step or two back. If we get another chance like that, maybe slide it in there for me,’” he said. “Quick was so aggressive at that time. I mean, you had to hit your spot, but he would be playing the shooter and would have a long way to come over.
“Yeah, sure enough, next shift, we get a 2-on-1, and he put it right in the perfect spot, right in the wheelhouse. Just tried to get it up in the upper half of the net. I always say I’ve had chills a couple times in my career. That was one of them.”
Kane drew a heart with his hands, then punched a fist through it and yelled, “Boom!” Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene copied the celebration when he scored at 11:42 of double OT in Game 6 of the second round May 17, defeating the Colorado Avalanche and sending the Stars to the Western Conference Final.
“The ‘Heartbreaker,’” said Kane, who went on to win the Cup again and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs most valuable player. “Special moment.”
Kane scored two playoff OT goals in 2014.
The first gave the Blackhawks a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 4 of the first round, tying the series 2-2. After a 2-on-1 turned into a 3-on-2, he decided to shoot and beat Ryan Miller short side at 11:04.
The second gave them a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 of the second round. Kane described it as if he had the slow-motion replay. The puck hit a stanchion and bounced in front. Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter tied up Chicago forward Peter Regin. Kane beat his man to the puck and then made a beautiful move on Ilya Bryzgalov at 9:42.
“Just tried to fake a shot, go with the backhand, go upstairs real quick,” he said. “Kind of got it higher than I thought, and it just hit the back bar and the post. I thought it went in, but I kind of, like, pointed to the net that it was a goal, and the ref called it a goal. That was another big goal for us to send us to the conference finals to play L.A. again. That was a cool moment.”
Kane’s fifth playoff OT goal might have been the funniest. In 2015-16, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the scoring champion with 106 points (46 goals, 60 assists) in 82 games and was voted the winner of the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player. But he wasn’t playing well with Chicago facing elimination at St. Louis in Game 5 of the first round April 21, 2016. Coach Joel Quenneville called him out in the locker room after the first OT.
“He must have said something like, ‘Kaner,’ let’s get going here. Are you going to do something?’” he said.
Kane responded with an unbelievable individual effort to score at 3:07 of double OT, giving the Blackhawks a 4-3 win and cutting the Blues’ series lead to 3-2.
“I made a move around the defenseman, pulled it in, tried to just poke it on net because I was getting some pressure,” he said. “The puck kind of squirted to the back post, and I went all the way around the net and, like, stuffed it in on the backhand.”
Like Kane said, in OT in the playoffs, any time there’s a breakdown or a little space, this could be the moment. This could be it.
“Always fun to be in those moments,” he said. “There’s something special about it and just fun to be able to step up for your team.”
