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Is Toews, Kane the best big-game duo in hockey?

Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews

Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) celebrates his goal with Patrick Kane during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, March 6, 2014, in Chicago. The Blackhawks won 6-1. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

AP

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews aren’t the only talented young duo in the NHL, but more than any other recent pair, they get results when it matters most. The two have combined for seven of Chicago’s eight game-winning goals so far in the 2014 postseason.

In other words, they combined for as many game-winners as Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby had total playoff goals in 2014. You can make the same comparison with Anaheim’s Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf as that duo has also scored a combined seven markers.

After Toews picked up the winner in Game 5 of Chicago’s second round series against Minnesota, he “kind of winked at me tonight and said maybe that was my time,” Kane said, according to ESPN Chicago. Given what’s happened so far, he probably wasn’t shocked that his words proved to be prophetic, but Kane likely exceeded even his expectations with his series-clinching overtime winner last night:

That was Kane’s fourth career overtime goal in the playoffs. He’s just 25 years old and yet only three players in the history of the NHL have ever netted more postseason overtime winners than him, per the Elias Sports Bureau. They are a trio of Hall of Famers in Glenn Anderson (five), Maurice Richard (six), and Joe Sakic (eight). Those three also have 16 Stanley Cup championships between them.

Kane and Toews are gunning for their third championship. If they succeed, a byproduct of that will be potentially ending the tie between the two in the Conn Smythe Trophy race. Only five players (Patrick Roy, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, and Bernie Parent) have ever won the award twice.

There’s still a lot of hockey left to play and all of the five other teams remaining are all more than capable of winning it all. But right now, Kane and Toews are both looking like serious contenders to join that exclusive list of multiple Conn Smythe winners. They just need to maintain what they’ve been doing throughout their career.

Follow @RyanDadoun