Kimmo Timonen wants Patrick Kane Cup winner, like 2010 vs. his Flyers

CHICAGO – It was Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. It was overtime, the result of a Philadelphia Flyers comeback in the third period. 

It was Patrick Kane with the puck along the half boards, juking his shoulders like he might feed back to the point before motoring towards the net. It was Kimmo Timonen, the veteran Flyers defenseman, thrown off Kane for a second, like an NBA defender getting beaten off the dribble.

It was a shot that teams of NASA scientists might still be studying to see how it beat Michael Leighton. It was a goal that sparked what could be a Chicago Blackhawks dynasty after the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.

It was a moment that neither Kane nor Timonen, now teammates, will ever forget.

“It’s amazing. It’s been five years. It seems like yesterday. We were at that building with an opportunity to close it out in Game 6. Pretty crazy game,” said Kane. “We were lucky enough to get to overtime, regrouped and ended up getting a lucky goal there.”

Once the goal was signaled, Kane sprinted to the other end of the ice to celebrate. The Blackhawks poured over the bench. Timonen, playing in his first Stanley Cup Final, slowly skated through the revelers join his mournful Flyers teammates.

It was a surreal moment, and one of the oddest series-winning goals in Stanley Cup history: Not only because of the angle on which Kane scored, but because the championship puck has never been located after the game. (Suspicions are that Steve Miller, the linesman, has something to do with its disappearance.)

“It might be still back of the net,” said Timonen on Monday, laughing. “Nobody saw it. Did it go in? I didn’t even know it went in,” he said, laughing even harder.

Timonen has never made it back to the Stanley Cup Final since that trip with the Flyers. They dealt him to the Blackhawks not only because Chicago needed a defenseman, but out of respect for a veteran in his last season, and the chance he has to win the Cup – potentially in a Game 6 in Chicago on Monday night, as the Blackhawks lead the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2.

He said 2010 was a topic of conversation when he arrived.

“I haven’t really thought about it now, but when I got here three months ago yeah, we were talking about it. The guys were saying all kind of stuff to me about it but it’s over now. It was five years ago. It was a tough memory,” he said.

Obviously, Kane feels he opposite.

“It’s something I’ll never forget about,” he said, “There’s been a lot of moments that have happened in hockey since then, but it still feels like yesterday. Time has just flown by.”

Kane and the Blackhawks are in the position to win a third Cup in six years, as dynastic as it gets in the NHL under the salary cap.

“It’s special. You’ve got to realize how fortunate you are, right? it’s not something everyone is going through, not just in the game of hockey but pretty much any sport to have this opportunity to play for three in six years … We’ve played in a lot of meaningful hockey games. I don’t want to say it’s something we’re accustomed used to and something we’re used to, but I think we’re fortunate to be in these situations and I think we’ve worked hard for it too. I think it’s something we all deserve,” he said.

“I think every year we come in with the mindset of the same thing, trying to keep getting better as the year goes on and try to win it all. Does it happen every year? Nope. But we have a good group in here, a lot of leadership, a lot of experience a lot of guys who have been around the block once or twice to see a thing or two that has happened in this game.”

One of those players is Timonen, who has 1,108 NHL regular-season games and 104 more in the playoffs without a ring on his finger.

Has he thought about being that veteran player, winning the Cup for the first time, getting the Chalice from captain Jonathan Toews?

“No, I haven’t. I don’t want to even think about that far. If that happens, that’s great. But that’s one of those things when you want to say to yourself: ‘Stop it.’ We have a big game and whatever happens we win or lose, we move on and see what happens after,” he said.

Kane and Timonen are linked from 2010, but they’ve also shared a struggle in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final.

Timonen has played in two games in the Final, only taking eight shifts per game. He’s a spare part on a team that’s relying heavily on their top four defensemen.

The Final has been nightmarish for Kane offensively. He had one assist in Game 4, but that’s been it: No goals for one of the most lethal scorers on the team.

“It’s one of those situations where it’s a tight-checking series and there’s not a lot of room out there. When you do get chances, you try to take advantage of them. A lot of us coming into this series thought it was going to be played out a little bit different to be honest with you. It’s the been exact opposite of how you thought,” he said of the Lightning.

Timonen has seen Kane struggle offensively in the series. He’d like to see Kane come through in Game 6, much like he did in another Game 6 five years ago when Timonen wearing slightly different colors.

“Hopefully it goes the other way around. I’m on this side, and he scores again,” he said. “I’ve been in every final there is in the hockey world but I haven’t won anything, I’ve always been on the losing part of this side of the story.”

Perhaps that changes after Game 6. 

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