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Antoine Vermette goes from healthy scratch to playoff hero as Blackhawks beat Ducks in double-OT thrill ride

Antoine Vermette goes from healthy scratch to playoff hero as Blackhawks beat Ducks in double-OT thrill ride

CHICAGO — Thursday night, Antoine Vermette was a healthy scratch. He was 32 years old, a veteran of 68 NHL playoff games, a player the Chicago Blackhawks acquired for a prospect and a first-round pick at the trade deadline. But he hadn’t scored in eight straight games, and coming off a triple-overtime epic, coach Joel Quenneville wanted fresh legs in the lineup.

So Vermette spent Game 3 of the Western Conference final in the dressing room, riding a bike, lifting weights. He watched on television as his teammates lost to the Anaheim Ducks without him.

“The emotion, I mean, it’s not a pleasant one,” Vermette said. “Like anybody else on this team, you want to be part of the team. You think you can help the team.”

Saturday night, Vermette helped the team all right. He returned to the lineup, and though he played only 17:56, second-least among Chicago forwards, he ended up making the difference 5:37 into double overtime.

Vermette's double-overtime goal in Game 4 ties the Western Conference final series 2-2. (AP)
Vermette's double-overtime goal in Game 4 ties the Western Conference final series 2-2. (AP)

Vermette fired the puck around the boards. Patrick Sharp took it behind the net and threw it into the slot. Vermette fired a shot and had it blocked. He grabbed the puck on a sharp angle and chipped it past the diving goaltender, giving the Blackhawks a 5-4 win. This time he had the fresh legs.

“What makes our game so great,” Quenneville said, “is that players are so competitive. They want to play in the worst way, and they want more ice time as well. You can understand where he was at, very disappointed, but he’s a great pro and stayed with it. That line had a couple looks there in overtime, and I’m glad he finished it for us.

“That was a huge, huge goal. Huge.”

The Blackhawks were on the brink of a 3-1 series deficit. Instead, this thing is tied, 2-2. It’s going six games. At least.

Who knows what happens next? No one knew what was happening at times Saturday night. The game was tied through two periods, 1-1. Then the Blackhawks took a 3-1 lead in the third, and it seemed over. It’s hard to score in today’s NHL, right? Especially in the playoffs, right?

But Ryan Kesler responded 1:04 later, and Matt Beleskey scored 23 seconds after that, and suddenly the game was tied. Quenneville called his timeout so the Blackhawks could regroup. Didn’t work. Corey Perry scored 14 seconds after that, and suddenly the Ducks led, 4-3.

“I thought it was the worst timeout I ever called,” Quenneville said with a little laugh. “They scored right away, and I was like, ‘Oh, my god.’ I used my timeout, and we’re down a goal, and there’s 10 minutes to go in the game.”

Three goals in 37 seconds. Only one team in NHL history had ever scored three goals more quickly in a playoff game: the Toronto Maple Leafs, who scored three goals in 23 seconds against the Atlanta Flames on April 12, 1979. Quenneville actually assisted on the third goal for the Leafs back then, but he said he didn’t remember. That was a long time ago.

“I think a lot of teams wouldn’t feel too good about themselves,” said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. “I think we did a great job of just collecting ourselves and staying calm. It is what it is. You can’t change that. You’ve got to move forward and try to find a way to get yourself back in the game.”

Just 3:20 later, Patrick Kane tied the game again. The teams scored five goals in a span of 5:01, and they kept coming. Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson swiped a puck out of the crease, saving a goal.

During a catch-your-breath pause, NBC play-by-play legend Doc Emrick asked his audience: “Aren’t you glad you like hockey?”

Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell hit a crossbar. Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford almost allowed the winning goal toward the end of regulation, when he took his eye off the play and swung his stick at Beleskey coming through the crease – just as a shot was on its way. Lucky for him, it missed.

Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen stops a shot by Chicago's Patrick Sharp during overtime in Game 4. (AP)
Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen stops a shot by Chicago's Patrick Sharp during overtime in Game 4. (AP)

Overtime. Crawford almost kicked a puck into his own net. The Ducks had the first 10 shots on goal and outshot the Blackhawks, 17-5. But the Blackhawks went on a power play, and Andrew Shaw hit a crossbar, and Sharp had a breakaway and Frederik Andersen stoned him with his left pad and … Oh, man, weren’t you really glad you liked hockey now?

Double overtime. There have been 15 multiple-overtime games in the NHL playoffs the last three years. The Blackhawks have been involved in eight of them. They are now 7-1, thanks to Vermette, thanks to experience and character and grit and skill and luck.

The core of this team won the Stanley Cup in 2010. Most of this team won the Cup in 2013 and went to Game 7 of the conference final last year. The vets have been through so many situations together, and they set an example for everyone else.

“I think we get into late overtime periods,” Toews said, “I think we just have a feeling as a group we’re going to find a way to win.”

The Blackhawks are 4-0 in overtime in these playoffs. They’re thin on defense but it hasn’t mattered. In Game 2, their top four defensemen all played more than 46 minutes. They won, anyway. In Game 4, their top four defensemen all played more than 29 minutes. They won, anyway.

“It’s fun,” said Duncan Keith, the ice-time leader, who played almost 50 minutes in Game 2 and more than 40 in Game 4. “It’s a good challenge.”

It’s fun to watch, as long as you aren’t riding a bike and lifting weights in the dressing room.

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