'Captain Serious' cracks a smile after Hawks' win

VANCOUVER -- Chicago's Captain Serious was so pleased with his team's effort Tuesday night that he even cracked a smile in front of the media.

No kidding.

Jonathan Toews was a happy man as he addressed the press corps in front of his stall inside the visitors' dressing room at GM Place, which might as well just be renamed in honor of the Blackhawks because of how well they play in this building.

Chicago skated to a 5-1 rout over the Canucks to win the series in six games and advance to the Western Conference Finals. They were 3-0 in front of the Canucks' home fans. Toews touched on that and more after the game:

Q: What is it about this place that brings out the best in your team?

Toews: "Again, it's not anything that we do here that we don't do at home. We come to these road games with the right mentality, and you saw that tonight. There were no goals scored in the first period, but we didn't worry about that. We were patient, the way we needed to be, and we kept moving our feet. We weren't lazy in any of those three periods. I think we got enough legs and enough speed to outlast that team, and that's what you saw tonight."

Q: How big is it just to close this thing out and get on to San Jose now?

Toews: "That's huge. We didn't want to give them more confidence than they already had. Obviously our effort wasn't good enough back home in Game 5. It's tough to win four games. You really have to battle those last couple of ones out. We didn't deserve to win that one at home, but we showed that we obviously did tonight."

Q: The way you were going in the first period, I know there weren't any goals, but did you figure if you kept up that kind of pressure that you would break through early in the second like you did?

Toews: "Of course. We just had to be patient. It's tricky sometimes, even when it's a close game, if they get the first couple they get a lot of momentum and you really feel on your heels. But, we were patient and we worked for that first one. I think Bollie's (Dave Bolland's) goal at the end of the second, that shorthanded one, to me was the most important goal of the game. It really gives us that distance and confidence that we could hold a lead going into the third period. It was a pretty energetic win for us tonight."

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

Back to top