ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Chicago Blackhawks have endured the rigors of five trips to the Western Conference finals in the past seven seasons thanks, in no small part, to their longest-tenured and most heavily used player, defenseman Duncan Keith.
Keith leads all skaters in ice time and is the top-scoring defenseman in the playoffs, with 16 points in 16 games. He has four multipoint games, including a 3-point effort in Chicago’s 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 6 on Wednesday. Game 7 is at Honda Center on Saturday night.
“You see how great he can be, how pivotal, how much he means to our team — especially in these big games,” said Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks’ captain and top center.