CHICAGO — He is only 22. That is the thing you have to keep reminding yourself when watching Brandon Saad. He had not yet been drafted into the NHL when the Chicago Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup in 2010. And he was a 20-year-old rookie, scoring just one goal and five assists, when they won again in 2013.
But in this, his second Stanley Cup final, the young forward with the evolving power game is not playing young anymore.
“He looks like a grown man out there,” said teammate Patrick Sharp. “He takes the puck, tells everybody what he’s going to do with it, and bowls people over and gets to that net either way. It’s nice to see him putting the puck in the net.”
Saad scored the winning goal in a 2-1 lead against the Tampa Bay Lightning to tie the best-of-seven series 2-2.
The goal was Saad’s eighth of the playoffs and second of the Cup final. And while it was not particularly pretty, you could appreciate the work that went into it.
Saad won the faceoff in the offensive zone and then drove the puck to the net. Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy poke-checked the puck, but Saad stayed with the play and backhanded the bouncing puck through Vasilevskiy’s legs at 6:22 in the third period.
“It was really lucky,” Saad said of his goal. “I saw space going to the net and tried to drive and create some chaos. The goalie made a good play by poking the puck and it was bouncing around by my feet and I … found a way through his legs.”
It might have been lucky. But Saad created that luck for himself.
The player who teammates called fearless when he was a 20-year-old playing in the Cup final two years ago is developing into quite the power forward. Saad reached career highs with 23 goals and 52 points this season — fourth-best on the team — and has earned head coach Joel Quenneville’s trust as someone who can play in all situations.
He kills penalties. He is used on the power play. He scores timely goals and blocks shots and throws his 6-foot-1 and 202-pound frame around the ice at anything that moves.
“He’s got that long, lanky stride, but it’s so powerful,” said Sharp. “He’s a tough guy to knock off the puck. It feels like when the stage gets bigger and the time of the game gets more critical, Saader is a guy you want out there on the ice and he usually is going to make the right play for us.”
“I loved his game tonight,” said Quenneville. “A great power move to the net … he’s fast, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s dangerous. Very good performance.”
As good as Saad has been, you get the feeling that he is just scratching the surface of the player he can become. Every year, he has built on his goal and point totals. And as the Blackhawks get older, he represents the next wave of players that should fill the void created by the pending departures of Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa.
That, of course, could make re-signing the restricted free agent a bit tricky for the cap-strapped Blackhawks. But with his potential as a 30 goal-scorer, it would seem like a necessity.
“Obviously, he’s just gotten better and better over the years,” said Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith. “He had a great playoff last year (Saad scored six goals and 16 points in 19 games) and he’s been a huge part of our team this year.
“We need him to just keep doing what he’s doing.”
Saad, who grew up in Pittsburgh and used to watch Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in these types of games, joked that it was only five years ago when he was watching the Blackhawks on TV win a Stanley Cup. Now, he’s a major reason they could win a third in six years.
“He assumes that responsibility and he wants to be one of the best players and contribute, like tonight,” said captain Jonathan Toews. “Obviously, our team is having a lot of success post-season and he’s a big reason why.”
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