Ducks-Blackhawks Instant Classic Means Best Yet to Come for Evenly Matched WCF

This series has the feel of a classic heavyweight boxing battle. In the glory days of the sport, too—not the twilight years before the UFC took over fight-night pay-per-view channels.

The Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks traded rushes like punches at the Honda Center on Tuesday night in an epic 3-2 triple-overtime win for the Hawks, the knockout punch coming at the hands of Marcus Kruger.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

That blow, which tied the Western Conference Final at one game apiece and sent it to Chicago for Games 3 and 4, has already set up the series to be so entertaining and evenly matched that it might be the one you remember most fondly from this entire spring session.

A marathon of a hockey game, the longest in the Original Six Blackhawks’ history, Game 2 was like a series all in itself.

The Blackhawks held a 2-0 lead. The Ducks scrapped back to force overtime. The goaltenders were stingy, the star players present and the defensemen dynamite.

Get ready for more of the same.

There are few minor advantages for either side, and they may all balance out in the end, leaving teams to lament missed opportunities, posts and bad bounces the rest of the way.

Goaltenders Corey Crawford and Frederik Andersen have both overcome early-playoff inconsistencies and become the confident, stingy backstops who can steady or steal a series.

Crawford wasn’t even the Blackhawks’ goalie of choice after the first couple of games of the opening round, giving way to backup Scott Darling after allowing three goals in the first period of his first outing and then allowing six in a loss in Game 2 when the Hawks put him back in.

When Darling lost Game 5, Crawford won the series-clincher by shutting out the Nashville Predators after coming in during the first period. He’s lost only one game since—the opener of the WCF against the Ducks.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Andersen was part of a Bruce Boudreau platoon last postseason as the head coach played musical goalies for two rounds. Although he’s played every minute this spring, and Tuesday’s game was only his second loss in three rounds, there were times against the Calgary Flames when it seemed as if Andersen was one more goal away from getting the hook.

And look at Andersen and Crawford now.

It’s a shame either of them had to lose after they prolonged arguably the most intense, exciting contest of the season to nearly double the length of a regular game. Between them, they finished with 113 saves (Crawford with 60 and Andersen with 53).

The star power on these two squads is unparalleled.

There are top centers in Jonathan Toews and Ryan Getzlaf, stud wingers in Patrick Kane and Corey Perry. Quality depth scorers Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp of the Blackhawks are countered by Ryan Kesler and his linemates, Matt Beleskey and Jakob Silfverberg, who have formed one of the spring’s top scoring trios through the first couple of rounds.

And there is so much more depth behind them, on both sides.

The Blackhawks have 10 players with at least two goals in the playoffs. The Ducks have 11. Guys like Andrew Shaw and Andrew Cogliano are capable of being difference-makers on the third and fourth lines.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

If the Hawks have a bit of an advantage up front by virtue of a more dangerous fourth line featuring Shaw and Kruger, the Ducks have it on defense. They may not have a superstar, Norris Trophy-winning veteran like Duncan Keith, who played nine seconds shy of 50 minutes Tuesday, but they have a more capable overall top six. The Hawks are relying very heavily on their top four.

Keith, Brent Seabrook, Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson all played more than 46 minutes for the Blackhawks in Game 2.

Francois Beauchemin led the Ducks defensemen with 46 minutes and 29 seconds of ice time. The bottom pairing of Clayton Stoner and Simon Despres played 28:54 and 34:36, respectively. By comparison, Kyle Cumiskey and Kimmo Timonen, the fifth and sixth defensemen for Chicago, combined for just over 35.

A team relying on the top end of the blue-line corps is nothing new, but the Blackhawks are charting new ground and venturing into dangerous territory.

The Globe and Mail's James Mirtle offered solid evidence on the situation's unique direction:

"

It’s a good thing they won, 3-2, deep in the third overtime because it’s hard to imagine their top defencemen were going to have enough in the tank to rally from two games down, needing to win four of the series final five games against a deep Anaheim Ducks team.

"

Considering how much more physical and grinding the Ducks are than the Blackhawks, with even their most skilled tandem of Perry and Getzlaf able to make minutes melt away on the exhausting cycle in the offensive zone before finally putting the puck in the net, that disparity is what could come into play as the series progresses into the elimination areas of Games 5, 6 and 7.

The Ducks have thrown 115 hits at the Blackhawks over two games—71 of them on Tuesday alone. The Blackhawks threw 78 combined.

After falling behind in the first period in Game 2, the Ducks ramped up their forecheck to draw even.

The Blackhawks ultimately leaned on their playoff experience in difficult situations to get through the grueling overtime after a disappointing 4-1 loss in Game 1 in Anaheim.

"Experience definitely helps," Crawford told reporters. "We've gone through it before. Maybe less nerves. But for sure it definitely helps when we've been through a bunch of these situations."

We’re about to find out what the next X-factor will be in the series.

If the Blackhawks have slightly more star power and depth up front, the Ducks have a bigger physical presence and a more well-rounded defensive group, and the goaltenders are a wash, the biggest advantage of all might be sheer will.

And it would be fitting for a series this good to come down to that.

All stats via NHL.com unless otherwise noted.

Steve Macfarlane has covered the NHL for more than a decade, including seven seasons following the Calgary Flames for The Calgary Sun. Follow him on Twitter at @macfarlaneHKY.