THE VERDICT: Chicago's Bubble Boys of Summer Carry On

As a hockey fan, which would you prefer?

A team with a roster of twentysomethings who appear to be coalescing before your eyes and growing faster than the playoff beards they weren't supposed to sprout?

Or, would you rather root for a cadre of decorated champions who have little to prove but perform as though they have examined their bucket lists and identified vacancies?

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Or, how about a squad possessing both of the above, with either demographic drawing energy from each other toward the greater good of all?

If you select the latter, then you are doubtless savoring the Blackhawks, Chicago's Bubble Boys of Summer. Their locker room is the youngest in the National Hockey League while at once housing future Hall of Famers possessing an opulent array of still very shiny Stanley Cup jewelry. Quite the mix.

However, in a mixed-up world, the Blackhawks were forced to halt their regular season in mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then, via an ingenious plan conceived by the NHL, the Blackhawks were accorded a spot in something called the Stanley Cup Qualifiers series. A number of experts scoffed at the scheme -- reasoning that the Blackhawks, bringing up the rear of a dozen franchises confined to a rink, a hotel and a golf simulator in Edmonton -- were invited solely because they were the Blackhawks. You know, big market, Original Six, TV ratings.

And then, instead of obeying chalk talk, the Blackhawks latched onto a "We're No. 12!" handle and concluded, well, you can't win it if you're not in it. Now they are officially in the postseason, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as are the Montreal Canadiens. Talk about pedigree. They were the bottom feeders dispatched to a similar gathering in Toronto, where they upset the Pittsburgh Penguins.

All of this proves, in a circumstance unlike any other, nobody knows nothing except that where there is a will, there's a way. The Blackhawks dismissed the favored Oilers, 3-1, in a best-of-five tournament, with efficiency, depth and resolve. The "Return to Play" system has transpired so smoothly it's as though the NHL had rehearsed this emergency drill multiple times. As if taking a cue, the Blackhawks traced a few steps from their glorious past decade.

Allow 2020 hindsight for a stretch back to 2010. In Game 5 of the Conference Quarterfinals at the United Center, the Blackhawks trailed the Nashville Predators, 4-3, when Marian Hossa uncharacteristically incurred a five-minute major with 1:03 remaining in the third period. The Blackhawks seemed doomed to defeat and a Game 6 in Nashville, where the Predators could clinch. But Patrick Kane scored a shorthanded goal, then Hossa atoned with the sudden death winner, and around parade time a couple months later, that game was often cited as the defining springboard toward a Stanley Cup.

Whether last Wednesday's Game 3 in Edmonton belongs anywhere near the conversation is, again, a stretch. But the Blackhawks were down 3-2 late and almost out, hanging around and hanging in, when Matthew Highmore and Jonathan Toews scored a couple of decidedly dirty goals for a pivotal victory and 2-1 series lead. Was that the "moment"? Feels like a stretch now because it can't logically be nominated for months, until and unless the Blackhawks carry this mission beyond all expectations. Except theirs.

The Blackhawks won't get where they want to go without Toews being himself or Duncan Keith skating like a cyborg. But they also need the Highmores and the Slater Koekoekks to keep on keeping on. And they can thank the day they drafted Kirby Dach, a nineteen-something man-child who is attracted to blue paint. In Game 3, Dach played 23 minutes, 21 seconds because Head Coach Jeremy Colliton trusts the rookie on power plays and penalty kills, deservedly so. Edmonton's Connor McDavid logged 21:10.

In Friday night's affair, McDavid skated almost 27 minutes, for the Oilers had five of those power plays during which they have feasted to historic levels. But the Blackhawks survived all, with Corey Crawford at his acrobatic best. He not only contracted COVID-19, he felt its wrath. Corey Who? That might be his reputation to casual observers, but to teammates and opponents, Crawford is the sultan of selective amnesia, the perfect disposition for a goalie. If a puck eludes him, that's hockey. Crawford inspires confidence. All he does is win.

"Total team effort," said Crawford, after 43 saves.

"Now the real fun begins," added Toews, who executed a cagey maneuver on the Oilers to arrange Dominik Kubalik's winner Friday night. Toews surely looked giddy for someone once tagged with a Captain Serious nameplate. He remembers what fun is. Evidently, he's missed it the last few years. During the lockdown, he quarantined beside the boob tube, soaking up reruns and taking in all those celebratory highlight clips from the dynasty days. Obviously, he discounts the notion that the so-called window has closed on his team. Not after what he saw, clearly, in Edmonton. Robin Lehner and the Vegas Golden Knights were there too, watching.

One more question. Would you want to play the Blackhawks now?