CHICAGO -- Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews didn't have the best night in Game 1. His club record 13-game scoring streak came to a screeching halt as he finished a minus-3 with only one shot on goal. But he also won 18 of 24 faceoffs and had nearly seven minutes of ice time in the third period when the Hawks were much better.
Toews talked to NHL.com Sunday afternoon about his performance and the Blackhawks' unsung heroes from their 6-5 win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Q: A checking line usually doesn't score three goals in a game, but do you guys look at Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg and now Tomas Kopecky -- but before, Andrew Ladd -- as checkers or a third scoring line?
Toews: Well, they're skilled players that are in a checking role, I guess. That's the way to look at it. When you're checking and you're being smart defensively, you're going to put your opponent in a situation where they are going to make mistakes eventually because they're trying to make the plays against you all night. You're going to get breaks. Those guys worked hard from the ground up, they didn't take any short cuts and it worked out there way. Obviously, they are great on taking advantage of their opportunities.
Q: When a checker is scoring a goal, is the lift on the bench felt even just a little bit more?
Toews: Yeah, maybe a little bit more. Your top line players are expected to score, so yeah it definitely gets things going when you don't expect a guy to make a play like 'Bollie' on the shorthanded goal yesterday. That really got the guys jacked up. We still have to find a way to respond to those goals a little bit better and make sure we're playing better right after those goals are scored.
Q: Without giving away any trade secrets, what did you have on their centers for the faceoffs last night?
Toews: I don't know. Just work ethic, I guess. We were prepared going into those faceoff dots and we really wanted to win them. We'll try to keep that roll going.
Q: Can you grade yourself after last night's game?
Toews: Yeah, I wasn't great. On the stat sheet it doesn't look great either. It's little things, details I want to improve on and we'll see some success.
Q: At any point last night in the first period did you feel that you guys got out of your element, out of control and had to reel it back in?
Toews: Maybe a little bit. A couple of times we weren't playing our game, the way we know we can, but we'll simplify things and figure it out. We did in the third period.
Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.