Blackhawks still talking about Patrick Kane spin-o-rama

By Ben Meyer-Abbott bmeyer-abbott@suntimes.com

Twitter: @BMACST

Patrick Sharp had seen the move before.

Sharp said Wednesday he stuck around to watch Patrick Kane play at the 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia and got a preview of the no-look, spin-o-rama Kane unveiled against the Anaheim Ducks in the second period at the United Center to help Marian Hossa score for the fifth consecutive game.

“Usually he throws the shot on net,” Sharp said. “This time he found Hossa for a tap in goal. It’s a heck of a play. I don’t think there’s a lot of guys in the league that can do that.”

Sharp joked with reporters Wednesday he had to deduct style-points because of who was on the other end of the pass.

“I’d give him like an 8.5 because he passed it to Hossa instead of me. Otherwise, it’s a 10,” Sharp said. “You can’t get much better than that.”

Said Kane about his move: “It’s definitely kind of a flashy move and at the same time it’s pretty productive too where you’re still protecting the puck, but you get some acceleration out of the turn too.

“It’s got to be in the right position. You’ve got to have a defenseman that kind of makes the first move and puts his stick out in a position where you can turn and make that pass. It’s kind of a move I’ve developed where it’s on that side [of the ice] and you can do it from that angle.”

Anaheim’s Toni Lydman was the defenseman who Kane posterized on the play. But Hawks defenseman Ducan Keith says you can’t fault Lydman too much.

“If you look at it, it wasn’t really [the fault of] the defenseman, it’s the guy who didn’t pick up Hossa,” Keith said.

So how would Keith stop Kane’s spin-o-rama if he had to?

“I don’t know if I want to talk about that. It’s Kaner’s move and I don’t want to be giving away any secrets if there are any,” Keith said.

Kane said he received text messages and calls from friends and other players around the league. But perhaps the most meaningful was a voice message from former Hawk Denis Savard, who perfected his own version of the spin-o-rama during his hall-of-fame career.

“It was pretty cool to hear his message,” Kane said. “I’ll keep [what Savard said] personal, but it’s definitely special hearing from a guy like that.”

The style play also had substance behind it. The assist broke a streak of three games for Kane without a point after he began the season with two goals and four assists in his first four games.

“It’s nice to have a game like that to get off the schneid a little bit and get going,” Kane said. “But any time you play the game you don’t want to think about points, you just want to think about creating chances and creating opportunities to make that happen.”