DETROIT — The greatest game of his life came after a miserable morning. Patrick Kane woke up to the telephone ringing at 9:47 a.m., having slept through a 9:30 team meeting before

Game Six against the Canucks. It was the Blackhawks' biggest game in more than a decade, and

he hadn't scored in three games.

Ugh.

He was so tardy that his teammates had enough time to concoct just punishment. They grabbed

milk cartons and taped a picture of him on the back, as if he were a missing child. They

teased him endlessly about getting fined for being late. The coaches sneered at him for being

irresponsible and immature with the stakes so high.

And then it got worse. He was driving home from the United Center when a car about 100 feet

in front of him cut off another driver, slammed on the brakes and struck two pedestrians. Kane

slowed down for the accident but never stopped, allowing the others to attend to the victims

on the side of the road.

For reasons he couldn't entirely explain, he drove home and slept for three hours. Maybe it

was from the sleeping pill he had taken two days earlier. Maybe he was exhausted from a full

season and two grueling playoff rounds. Maybe it was a 20-year-old enjoying nothing more than

a good snooze for a 20-year-old. Regardless, he crashed.

"When I came to the rink, I kind of had a funny feeling," he said. "It was weird, but I

thought something [good] was going to happen."

Kane had his first career hat trick in a 7-5 victory that sent the Blackhawks into the

Western Conference finals for the first time since 1995. The last goal was a beauty. Kane

knifed through the middle and backhanded the puck into the top corner. He celebrated on one

knee, pointing his fingers as if they were a gun. You could practically hear the roars from

Chicago to Buffalo. He had 69 text messages waiting for him after the game.

"It's always been a goal to play in the NHL," Kane said. "To end up scoring a hat trick in

an elimination game, a huge game, it was pretty sweet. It was something you never think would

happen. It couldn't come at a better time."

It was highest of highs after a miserable day.

Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell had chirped earlier in the series about Kane being a

perimeter player and power-play specialist, the benefactor of scoring cheap goals around the

net.

Big mistake. Kane for years has thrived on people doubting him. All three goals in that

game were scored in even-strength situations, including a pretty wraparound after beating

Mitchell behind the net.

Facing the best

On Sunday, he experienced hockey's lowest of lows. He barely had a sniff of the puck with

Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, one of the best players in the world, following him

around like a dark secret. Kane was a nonfactor, and he walked out of Joe Louis Arena with no

shots on a goal, for just the fourth time this season, and an ugly minus-3.

"Sometimes, you're lining up against guys like Lidstrom, especially last year, and you're

saying, "Wow, I'm definitely not scoring on this shift,'" Kane said. "When you're in junior,

you're lined up against Joe Smith, who's 17 years old and just got called up from Junior B.

Now, it's Nick Lidstrom, a Norris Trophy winner."

The past two years and the playoffs this season have been a learning process for Kane, who

already has experienced more than he expected. He was selected first overall in 2007, won the

Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie in 2008. He and Jonathan Toews have become the fresh

young faces of the Blackhawks, who are relevant again with their run through the postseason.

Heck, Kane is bigger in Chicago than he is in South Buffalo, where he was born and raised.

He has eight goals and 12 points in his first 12 playoff games following a 25-goal, 70-point

regular season.

He drew Detroit's top defense pairing in Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski and played against a

good two-way line in Henrik Zetterberg, and wingers Johan Franzen and Dan Cleary.

"Not many people step back too often and see that he's only in his second year," defenseman

Brian Campbell said. "And he's only 20 years old."

His image was splashed across an enormous banner in Montreal for the NHL All-Star Game.

He's on billboards around the Windy City. Fans were calling him "Hatrick Kane" after the

Vancouver game. He can no longer walk down the street without being noticed. It's a heavy load

for anyone, heavier yet for a 20-year-old trying to find his way.

"When you're in a five-[team] town, there's a lot of that going around," Campbell said.

"Him and Jonathan Toews are on every magazine cover. They're two years into it. They're going

to be extremely big, and it's a big city. You look how [sports figures] are in New York and

L.A. That's the comparable."

The demands for his time were evident Monday after practice in Joe Louis Arena, where the

Blackhawks were getting ready for tonight's Game Two against the Wings (7:30 p.m., Versus).

Kane drew the biggest crowd of reporters who put him under the bright lights, if not through

the wringer. CBC sat him down for an interview that will air Friday.

Native son

He's not in South Buffalo, anymore. But people forget.

No player has come from Western New York and had so much success so early, but to say he's

universally appreciated would be inaccurate. South Buffalo is a state of mind, and there's

been a growing beef that he doesn't represent the old neighborhood, that he's become a big-

timer, that he's not one of them.

They are petty complaints, most presumably born from jealousy. If everyone was despised for

mistakes or silly comments they made at age 20, it would be a loveless world. He's always been

respectful and talks often about how Buffalo keeps him grounded. In truth, he would like

nothing more than to bring the Stanley Cup home.

"I like having fun and just being myself," he said. "Some people might not like it. There

are probably some people in South Buffalo who want me to fail. It's been that way my whole

life. I just have to deal with that. What can you say?

"I love going back to Buffalo. I love living in that area. I love hanging out with my

buddies. It's where my true friends are. Some people don't like it. What are you going to do?"

Note to his critics: Cut the kid some slack. He's living a lifestyle most people couldn't

comprehend. He's trying to fulfill a dream and live a life that hasn't been normal since he

left home for hockey at age 14.

Return to Motor City

In many ways, his return to Detroit has been a homecoming. He spent three years with USA

Hockey's developmental program in nearby Ann Arbor. Prior to that, Kane left the Depew Saints

after former NHL winger Pat Verbeek invited him to live in Detroit and play for Honeybaked.

The Saints wound up beating Honeybaked for the national title, leaving Kane in tears. For most

players on both teams, it was the biggest game they'll ever play.

For him, it was a lesson for now.

He's learning how the playoffs are a roller coaster ride with twists and turns, mixed with

exhilaration and terror. Everything is magnified in the postseason. Goals feel better,

victories seem more rewarding, and defeats are like death. The chore is managing everything

while maintaining a level of consistency without losing your mind.

"If it was an EKG, you would have a heart attack because you're so high and so low. It

comes with maturity," Blackhawks General Manager Dale Tallon said. "Last year, everything went

pretty much ahead of schedule [for Kane]. It was a great year all the way through. This year,

he had his ups and downs. He dealt with it. He's had some highs and some lows, some scoring

droughts. It's all about how you handle it."

Kane handled the miserable game Sunday his own way. He declined a dinner invitation from

Verbeek and stewed in his hotel room over his performance. He spent a few hours feeling as if

he let down the fans of Chicago who had such high expectations. He felt horrible that his

parents drove from Buffalo and watched him play like, like that.

And he bounced back Monday with renewed confidence. He answered every question and made

himself accountable. He acknowledged that the Blackhawks want to become a team like the Red

Wings, whose maturity and experience have translated to three straight trips to the conference

finals and the Cup last season.

"Where would you rather be?" he asked the crowd around him. "I wouldn't want to be hanging

out with my buddies in college back in Buffalo right now. I would rather be here playing

hockey and trying to win the Stanley Cup. It's a pretty fun situation."

The kid is growing up.