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Host, TSN The Reporters with Dave Hodge

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There has been a lot of talk about the mental toughness required to do what the Chicago Blackhawks did by winning four straight multilple-overtime games in these Stanley Cup playoffs. Last night proved they're not as successful if overtime lasts less than a minute, mind you.

Matt Beleskey Ryan Getzlaf

But I digress - unless you consider it something of a fluke that the Hawks were victorious in each of those marathon contests, they deserve credit for their poise and their stamina, and let's call it concentration that allowed them to avoid a costly mistake and to emerge victorious four straight times late into the night.

Despite last night's loss, there were more reasons to stay "thumbs up" to a Chicago team that demonstrated other facets of its fortitude. Though not directly, their horrible first period did wind up beating them, if you want to look at it that way, but it didn't finish them as it would have done to many other teams. It was probably tougher to stay in that game than it was to win any of the long overtimes. And then the late comeback that produced the two Jonathan Toews goals added to the admiration earned by the Hawks. They just couldn't earn the win.

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Now, to the Anaheim Ducks. Anything you want to say about the way Chicago has responded to pressure-filled situations must apply to Anaheim as well.

Did it take something special for Chicago to beat the Ducks in their two marathons? Sure, it did. But the Ducks showed at least as much by winning the games that followed their excruciating overtime defeats. It would have been easy to explain a major letdown by Anaheim after Game 3 and/or after Game 4, and especially after Toews' two-goal dagger last night.

Matt Beleskey scores OT winner

A series that has been extended to a sixth, and possibly a seventh game could have ended by now if the long overtimes had gone the other way or if the Ducks had lamented their fate. The Western Conference final probably deserves to go the limit to see which team handles that situation best, because both teams have taken turns impressing in the others.