Cool as a cucumber, the Blackhawks force Game Seven

Not quite a week ago, Vancouver led the defending Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks three games to none in the opening round of the 2011 playoffs, and everybody counted the champs out.

Last night Ben Smith's overtime goal gave Chicago a 4-3 victory in Game Six, tying the series at three games each and forcing a decisive seventh game between the Hawls and the team most people picked to win the Cup this year.

The issue will be decided Tuesday night in Vancouver. One thing is certain: the heart of last year's championship team remains, however depleted its talent level may have been by the late Bill Wirtz's final affront to Hawk fans, the salary cap. The coolness of this team- and notably of rookie goalie Corey Crawford, whose exclusion from the ranks of the Calder Cup candidates is hard to justify- under the kind of pressure faced by a defending champion on the brink of elimination has been remarkable.

Whatever may happen from here on out, I feel a great deal better about this team winning another Cup in the near future, even if not this year, than I have all season. This is a very, very good hockey team- and if they manage to oust the Canucks Tuesday night, don't rule out a deep run into the playoffs and- who knows?- maybe a repeat as Cup winners, salary cap or no.

BTW, Canucks goalie Corey Schneider was injured last night. Roberto Luongo, against whom the Hawks scored almost at will in the two previous games, will perforce be in the nets for Vancouver Tuesday night.