Are Shorthanded Blackhawks Finally Out of Miracles in Western Conference Final?

The Chicago Blackhawks remain a fearsome lot, and finishing them for good figures to be akin to knocking out Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Their reputation of invincibility in late-series playoff games, however, is finished. Or is it?

How the Blackhawks respond to something that had never happened in the Joel Quenneville era until Monday night—losing a Game 5 of a series after being deadlocked 2-2—will be the overriding storyline entering Game 6 Wednesday at the United Center. 

Entering Monday, the Blackhawks had been 7-0 in Game 5 of a series that had been tied at two games apiece under Quenneville. In such situations, they were 14-0 in Games 5 and 6 combined and have never been to a seventh game. They've never needed one, having always won those fifth and sixth games. 

Chicago's No. 1 wish right now is to fly back to Southern California and take its chances in a game whose stakes are a ticket to the Stanley Cup Final, but it has to win at home first. Piece of cake, right? 

Maybe. An easy win with a roster of names such as Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad et al.? Certainly possible. 

Alex Gallardo/Associated Press

Here's the thing: It's starting to seem a little, just a little, like maybe the Blackhawks are out of miracles. All of these overtime games and late heroics—Toews' two goals in the final two minutes that tied Game 5 were just that—are great. But it's a tough way to live, a tough way to win. 

After a while, the energy that was there for all the previous comebacks can go away suddenly. Perhaps the Blackhawks are just a little too mentally fatigued from all these other Houdini-esque escapes and near-escapes. It could be a reverse letdown, where they expect home ice to simply deliver them a win as easy as calling Domino's for a pepperoni pizza.

The Ducks are hungry; the Blackhawks are trying to hang on. That's the scenario for Game 6, anyway. Chicago can flip the script again with a big win Wednesday.

"We feel we're a tough team to get rid of, and this next game's a must-win for us," Toews told reporters on NBC's feed after Game 5. "And everybody in this room believes we play our best when our backs are against the wall. We're ready for that challenge."

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This might be one challenge too many. Anaheim has been the better team in this series. The series score says that, but so do many of the internal numbers.

Anaheim continues to out-hit Chicago—the final tally in Game 5 was 41-23 Ducks. Chicago continues to try to get away with playing only four defensemen most of the time. Kimmo Timonen and Kyle Cumiskey, the fifth and sixth defenders, combined to play just under 19 minutes in the overtime affair, while Quenneville continues to use Keith, Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson as much as a bachelor uses his one frying pan.

The lack of depth and equilibrium on the final sheets under "ice time" for Quenneville's defense makes it seem that another Cup is just too much to ask of this group. Maybe it's gone as far as it can. Keith and Seabrook have to be dog-tired—and not just physically. All these comebacks can be tiring mentally. 

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf knows his squad has to be merciless to put the Blackhawks away.

"When you have opportunities like that, we've got to be able to bury teams," Getzlaf told NBC's Brian Engblom on the air after Game 5. "We don't want to give this team any life. We've been able to go into some pretty hostile buildings, in Winnipeg and Calgary, and get wins, and we want to do the same thing."

This won't be an easy team to kill. After that late third-period comeback that sent Game 5 to overtime, the Blackhawks won't go quietly. But the prediction here is that Anaheim will get the job done at the United Center on Wednesday. The Ducks want it too much, and Chicago looks too tired.

Or, wait: Is that Freddy Krueger rising back up from out of the boiler room?

Adrian Dater has covered the NHL since 1995. Follow him @Adater