It's always a good sign when a team's biggest stars play their best in the season's most important moments.
For the Chicago Blackhawks, that's just what happened in the final contest of their Western Conference Finals series against the Anaheim Ducks.
Captain Jonathan Toews scored the first two goals of the game, Marian Hossa potted a marker of his own and Patrick Kane added two assists, as the Blackhawks found their way past the formerly surly Ducks, 5-3, in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals.
With the win, Toews and the Hawks are now set to face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals, which will begin June 3. The Lightning also needed seven games to defeat the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference Finals series.
While the Ducks and Matt Beleskey did their best to force the issue late in the contest, the Blackhawks were just too strong and too desperate.
Despite the efforts of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler, the Ducks' once-promising season ultimately ended in failure in the face of a Blackhawks team likely all too aware that this may be their final chance at a Cup before Chicago GM Stan Bowman takes an axe to numerous areas of the roster this offseason.
