If you believe in conventional wisdom, Saturday should not have happened.
The Chicago Blackhawks, who are in the postseason thanks only to a generous 24-team return-to-play field, had no business upsetting the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 in the opener of a best-of-five play-in series in Edmonton, Alberta.
Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford had seen the ice for only a week since March after recovering from COVID-19.
And here he was facing the league’s top point producers in Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, as well as the NHL’s second-best power play — ever.
So it seemed if the Hawks had a chance, they at least would have to stay out of the penalty box. Yet right on cue, they put too many men on the ice less than 11/2 minutes into the game and set the stage for McDavid to put the Oilers up 1-0 on a power-play goal off a Draisaitl assist.
It turns out it was just the opening scene of an epic and improbable comeback story.
The Hawks turned on a magical mix of past glory and future promise. Stanley Cup veteran Jonathan Toews and rookie Dominik Kubalik each scored two goals and together accounted for eight points, leading the upset of the Oilers.
“We kind of have the best of both worlds, where we have a handful of guys that have been through it and won the Cups, they can kind of share their experiences in terms of what it takes and the feeling that it’s worth it,” coach Jeremy Colliton said. “At the same time you’ve got a young group — I think I saw we’re the youngest team in the qualifiers, in the playoffs — so that young energy and enthusiasm, they’re very happy for the opportunity to be here and maybe don’t know any better.
“On the outside people may say that we don’t have a chance, but we’ve gotten better as the year went on. And now we have a chance to show it.”
Saturday represented the Hawks’ first postseason game since they lost to the Nashville Predators on April 20, 2017, to cap a first-round sweep. It was the Hawks’ first postseason win since a 6-3 victory against the St. Louis Blues on April 23, 2016.
“You have to give Chicago credit,” Oilers coach Dave Tippett said, according to the Edmonton Sun. He then proceeded to take away some of that credit.
“They played well. But some of the errors and just the way we went about things … It’s not playoffs,” Tippett said. “We were a way better team in the regular season. You get behind early, you start to cheat and you don’t look like a good team, and that’s what we were tonight.”
Once the Hawks settled down after the early mistake, the game snowballed on the Oilers.
Dylan Strome kicked off a flurry of three goals in less than four minutes in the first period, and Jonathan Toews added a fourth before the first intermission.
Kubalik netted two power-play goals and assisted on three others, tying a franchise record with five points and setting a record by a player making his NHL postseason debut.
“We didn’t like getting scored on the first couple minutes, but we came back pretty quick,” Kubalik said. “The game was pretty good. I felt really good. Everything went my way.
“Obviously it’s nice, but it’s just the first game, so we’ve got to keep going.”
He’s also only the fifth rookie to record at least five points in a postseason game.
“He’s a guy who got better as the year went on,” Colliton said of Kubalik, a Calder Trophy finalist. “He’s a good skater, some explosion, his work ethic away from the puck is really good. That line — Toews-(Brandon) Saad-Kubalik — they seem to have a really good understanding of how they want to play in the offensive zone in particular and finding those holes in the slot, and he’s got a great shot.
“Very coachable kid and he seems to be getting better and better.”
Crawford faced 29 shots, giving up four goals, but lasted the whole game. His counterpart, Mike Smith, was chased in the second after giving up Kubalik’s first goal — Smith’s fifth allowed.
Mikko Koskinen played about four more minutes than Smith and gave up one goal on 19 shots.
Crawford looked solid, and the Hawks did what they could to keep him out of trouble. They had 55% of the high-danger shots on goal.
Crawford wasn’t made available to media, but his teammates sang his praises.
“We almost always expect him to just come out of nowhere and stand on his head like he always does,” Toews said. “He just seems to have that mental part of his game down, (and) even without the preparation he’s going to show up, make stops for us.
“He did that for us today. It’s just reassuring that we have a guy like him back there with his level of experience, regardless of his lack of preparation and not having a full camp like everybody else.”
It was the Oilers, the top seed among the Western Conference qualifiers and playing in their own arena, Rogers Place, who at times looked out of sorts, unprepared and frustrated.
It showed on McDavid’s high-sticking penalty of Toews in the first and Darnell Nurse roughing Ryan Carpenter.
The Oilers had 17 giveaways to the Hawks’ eight.
“Usually the team that makes the most mistakes ends up on the back side of it,” Tippett said, “and we made the most mistakes.”
It also came down to the fact that after a 143-day shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Hawks looked like they were ready to play again and the Oilers, for all their advantages, didn’t.
But it was only Game 1. Game 2 is Monday.
“It’s a unique situation, playing without fans and being in a bubble and things like that,” Saad said. “But the camaraderie on the team is at an all-time high” Saad said. “Everyone’s excited to be here, be in playoff action, and anytime you’re scoring goals, you’re hooting and hollering.
“It was just a great feeling overall today.”