Jonathan Toews has scored on five of his eight shootout attempts this season — including Saturday against the Panthers — to become the NHL’s all-time leader in shootout goals, with 50.
But he still favors extending the preceding 3-on-3 overtime period from five to 10 minutes, making the shootout far less relevant.
“The shootout, we can end it. I can be the all-time leader and that’ll be it,” he said Tuesday to a chorus of laughter. “We’ll turn the page on that. I like 3-on-3 as well.”
Toews, obviously, was partially joking there. But he really does believe in the cause.
“Eventually, someone’s going to score in 3-on-3 ... so that’s a good way to finish it. Fans like watching that, too. Some nights you play a great game, you can’t find a way to score 3-on-3, you lose in a shootout and you feel like you’ve should have won the game. So that’s the only thing I would change.”
Shootout partner-in-crime Patrick Kane, who also scored Saturday to improve to 6-for-8 on the year and remain in third all-time, is also serious.
“We probably have a pretty good record in the shootout,” Kane said. “But as a player, it’s fun to play in the 3-on-3 setting, play in overtime. It’s entertaining for the fans, too — even for myself, if I’m at home watching hockey, I’ll turn on the games that are going into overtime. It’d be fun to see the games go a little bit longer.”
Kane is right that the Hawks do have a strong shootout record over the years.
They’re 56-41 in the skills competition dating to 2009, and after starting this year 0-3 while Robin Lehner worked through his shootout struggles, they’ve rallied to 4-4 with three straight wins.
The way those wins have occurred is especially impressive. Kane and Toews have both scored in three straight and the Hawks have ended all three before even needing their unidentified third shooter.
And Toews and Kane’s goals have all been beautiful, too, whether they’ve dismissed fresh-off-the-bench Elvis Merzlikins in Columbus or dented Antti Raanta’s incredible night in Arizona or burrowed through Sergei Bobrovsky’s five-hole in Florida. All three games being on the road, with the home crowds raining down boos, made Toews and Kane seem like even icier killers.
“[It’s] nothing technical, really,” Toews said, adding he only sometimes decides his move before touching the puck. “It’s just bearing down and having that confidence that you can try and make the goaltender bite on something, or make him think you’re doing one thing, and do another. It just comes with experience. And the more you score, the more confident you get.”
Detroit’s Frans Nielsen entered the season No. 1 all-time with a 49-for-104 career accord, but he’s 0-for-1 this season. Toews, meanwhile, is up to 50-for-101, while Kane stands at 47-for-110.
In terms of efficiency, fourth-place T.J. Oshie (45-for-86, 52 percent) and 19th-place Tyler Seguin (30-for-60, 50 percent) are among those who have them barely beat, but that’s a short list.
A 10-minute overtime period would push shootouts to the far periphery of the NHL, though.
The number of games ending in shootouts fell from 170 to 107 when 3-on-3 was introduced in 2015-16; this year is on pace for 102. Doubling the length of overtime would theoretically halve that again, down to 50 or so.
But even Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said Tuesday he would support such a change: “It would be fun. Obviously, everyone loves the five-minute 3-on-3.”
After all, seemingly no one — not even those best taking advantage of them — would be sad to see shootouts die.
