Patrick Kane slow to find offensive touch in Stanley Cup Final
The Blackhawks have been in this situation before with Patrick Kane in these playoffs. His inability to score morphs into a storyline. Why is he not able to shake loose? Is there something wrong with him? Are his opponents just shutting him down completely?
“He’s had a couple good looks last game. He’s had chances in all games,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I think, you know, when your top guys go through stretches they don’t score, I still think they absorb the other team’s coverage issues, whether it’s their top guys, top defensive guys. Eventually they’re going to get their turns.”
Yup, he’s right. Kane’s going to get his turn. And when he does, it could shift the momentum of the Stanley Cup Final, tied at 2-2 heading into Game 5 at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
This is sort of similar to what happened to Kane in the Western Conference Final – though the length of his draught was just two games, not four.
The Ducks had his number. They pounded Kane, took away his time and space. Then as all great players do, Kane found some open ice. And he made Anaheim pay.
In the last five games of that series, Kane notched seven points. The last two games he scored a goal and added four assists. The latter contests he was paired with Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad on the first line. The Ducks had no answer for that group. Against the Lightning, Quenneville has shifted Kane around a little more to try to figure a way to get the mullet-man on the offensive score sheet.
He assisted on Brandon Saad’s game-winner, though the goal more had to do with Saad’s power move than Kane’s distributing ability.
Maybe this will help Kane moving forward in the series? Can one assist equal that much confidence?
“I think he goes through stretches where he doesn’t produce, but he does a lot of other things that are healthy for our team game,” Quenneville said. “All of a sudden, you know, he hits the scoreboard and then it’s tough to keep him off it.”
That’s not 100 percent true with Kane in regards to ‘he does a lot of other things’ cliché. When Jonathan Toews isn’t scoring, he’s at least playing on the penalty kill and taking defensive zone face offs. Marian Hossa is also a great all-zone player for Chicago even if the puck isn’t going in for him.
Kane’s simply an offensive star, though this does subscribe to the theory of, your offense is your best defense.
His even strength CF percentage even strength has been at 51.61 percent or above in three of the four games according to Natural Stat Trick. When he’s on the ice, the Hawks are possessing the puck.
But he’s not scoring the goals … yet. We predict it will happen, likely in Game 5. You can’t keep a hockey player with a mullet down for too long.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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