‹ Prequel: Chances Taken
Sequel: The Three C's

Chances Risked

Chapter Eighty Eight

-Maggie-
Playoffs have begun, and I have no clue what happened in the first game. It was Game one in the first round, we were against the Islanders and crushed them with the final score of five to zero, it was like they didn’t show up at all. If they continue to play like this, then we were going to cruise through the first round with no problem.

But that’s not what we were thinking in Game two, when they beat up on our own ice with a goal ahead, or in Game three when we barely beat them in overtime or even in Game four when the Islanders beat us with the final score of six to four. We received some hope when we had a shutout in Game five, the final score five to zero, but we had to trade Marc out for Vokoun in Game four. I believed that the pressure he was under was just too much for him to bare, and I was trying to get him to calm down, but he had other things on his mind, like his new baby.

It was the eleventh of May, we were in New York for Game seven, we prayed that we won this game; we needed to win this game. The Penguins needed to make it passed the first round, something they hadn’t done in a few seasons. The Blackhawks had managed to beat the Wilds in Game four; they didn’t need to continue on like we did. So when I came into the visitors’ locker room, ready to get ready for the game, I was surprised and happy to see flowers and a note from Pat that he, Jon, Sharp, Abby and Duncan were up in a suite watching the game and wished us all luck.

Even though Geno didn’t wear the ‘C’, he was acting Captain and we were all right with that, everyone respected him. Coach came in and said things that we already knew, we knew that we needed to win this game if we wanted to continue, if we wanted another chance at Stanley, we knew that this we mostly likely going to be a violent game, it was a game on who was desperate enough to continue onto the next round.

Everything was happening so fast, by the end of the first period, Islanders were up by one the score was two to one. A lot of pushing and shoving matches, but it had not quite gotten into fights, not like what happened in the other game. Nothing much happened in the second period, goal wise, there were a lot of penalties, this time a lot of fighting and Tavares and I had gotten in a shoving and trash talk match, he was a friend, but I think he was scared to hit me, and I wasn’t going to hit him if he wasn’t going to hit me. In the third period, things started to get serious, we ended the second with the score tied at two, during the third, we tied things up at three. When the clock was clicking down from a minute, I desperately tried to end this game before into overtime, not wanting to take the chance, but it didn’t happen, the horn sounded and we were going into overtime.

“What are we going to do, Coach?” TK asked as he skated over towards the boards, standing next to me and leaning his elbow on my shoulder.

“All right, here’s what I want,” he looked at us all, “Whatever happens, I’m proud of you all.”

“We win, Coach, no worry, we win,” Geno said and I smiled at the big guy and patted his chest.

“So what’s the plan, Coach?” I asked and he looked at me.

“You.”

“Me?” I asked and Coach looked at me and nodded his head, “All right, what do you want me to do?”

“I want the boys to create and opening for you- Tanger, Paulie, G, Nealer, make sure Maggie gets the puck and you get her to the net,” Coach said and we nodded our heads.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned my head to see Kris smirking at me. I sighed and looked at Coach, “No offense Coach,” I started and he looked at me, “I’m not doubting my abilities or anything- But, won’t they be expecting that?”

Coach looked at me and then looked towards the Islanders team, some were looking over here as if they were trying to sneak a peak at our plans, “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m taking a huge risk here,” I said and the team just looks at me, “If ya’ll are willing to try it- If not, then I have no problem getting the puck, but- What if- They’re going to be putting their first line on the ice- Their best line,” I said and Coach nodded his head, “What if we put Adams, Englland, Orpik, Kennedy and-“

“You,” Coach said and I just looked at him, “They might be expecting you, so they’ll go after you a lot, just make sure you don’t have the puck long.”

I smirked, “This just might work,” I said and the guys nodded their heads, “All right.”

“You guys got this,” James said and TK and I were already on the ice. Craig, Deryk and Brooks climbed over and the horn sounded saying that the overtime was going to start.

-Kane-
I was up in the suite with my teammates, we watched this game go on, we even stood up and cheered when Penguins made the goal in overtime and won the game, moving onto the second round. All of us honestly thought that they were going to put the dream line, Malkin, Neal and Maggie, we were surprised when they didn’t, we were even more surprised when Orpik and Kennedy were the ones responsible for the winning goal.

After the game, I texted Maggie what suite we were in and waited about forty minutes before the door opened and a happy girlfriend ran into the room, tackling me to the floor and hugging me tight. I laughed and hugged her back, hearing my teammates laughing and then helping us back up, and then one by one hugging their friend.

“Good game! Who do you play next?” Sharp asked and Maggie sighed.

“We play Ottawa, they’re going to be a bitch though- Gunna want revenge for Cooke hurting their star player, Karlsson,” Maggie said and we nodded our heads, knowing what she was talking about.

Back in February, the Penguins were in Ottawa and Cooke and Karlsson were in the corner fighting for the puck when apparently Cooke ‘purposely’ brought his skate up and slammed it down on Karlsson. The blade went into Karlsson’s skate and sliced his Achilles tendon; he was out for months and had only just returned. No one knows if Matt had done it on purpose or not, I knew he was known for his rough playing, but- I didn’t know, I wasn’t there. A lot of teams didn’t like the Penguins because of Cooke, and of course, Crosby, but revenge for injury was mostly for something that Cooke did. The Bruins will always hate Cooke for back in 2011, ending Marc Savard’s career with one elbow to the head.

“Who do you play next?” Maggie asked as she slipped herself under my arm, we were both leaning on the back of the couch.

“Detroit,” Jon said and Maggie nodded her head.

“Tough round for both of us,” she said and I chuckled.

“That’s usually what happens, they do tend to get tougher,” I said and she scoffed and playfully slapped my chest while the others laughed.

-Maggie-
We had won against the Senators in five games, and the day after we finished the second round, we found out that the Bruins had beat the Rangers in five games, and they were going to be our next opponent.

t took the Blackhawks all seven games to beat Detroit, and I was there for the last three because we were finished with our games. I were happy for the boys, they were moving on to play the Kings and I knew that after this round were the finals, it could be the Kings versus the Bruins, the Kings versus the Penguins, or the Blackhawks versus the Bruins, or Kane versus Marshall, Hawk versus Penguin; everyone was excited.

The Conference Finals were beginning, we were going to host the Bruins, and this was going to be the first game with Sidney back and he didn’t have to wear the bottom face mask to protect his jaw. He’s been back in the game since the first round, but he wasn’t able to do much, now he was healthy enough to play like himself again.

We were on our ice, warm ups had passed, I wasn’t a part of the first line, in fact I found it odd that within the first ten minutes of the game, the Bruins already up by one, I wasn’t put on the ice at all. I kept looking back towards Coach, we were getting killed out there, but I didn’t understand why he was doing this. I knew he knew that I was friends with most of the Bruins, but I hoped he knew me better to think that I would botch this game for us.

“Mags,” I heard and saw Pascal looking at me, “What the hell?”

“I don’t know!” I growled, he face asked the question, ‘Why wasn’t I on the ice’. Shit, even when the Bruins passed the bench, they gave me confused looks. I looked back at Bylsma, “Coach?”

“Not now,” he muttered and I growled and looked back towards the ice.

By the end of the first period, I went back to the locker room incredibly pissed about the fact that we were down by one and I hadn’t been on the ice at all. Everyone kept on asking me why and I would just shake my head, even Sidney didn’t know why Coach wasn’t putting me on.

Coach walked in and I shot up, “Coach, what the hell?!” I was out of my gear, just looking at him, well, more like glaring at him.

“Not now-“

“You’ve been telling me that all night!” I growled and he looked at me, “Why are you not putting me on?!”

He sighed and looked at me, “Come with me,” he managed to say before turning around and heading out of the door. I looked at my teammates before leaving the locker room and heading into his office.

“What’s going on?” I asked as Coach sat at his desk and motioned for me to sit down, I did, he just tossed me paper, “What’s this?”

“Read it,” he said and I looked down at it.

“Maggie Marshall is to not play tonight or this will be shown to the world,” I read out loud and then looked at him and down at the paper, and then back at him, “What will be shown?”

“This,” Coach said and then held up a picture of Pat and I together, it looked to be here, we were kissing, “I don’t want this getting out.”

“Why? Because he’s a Blackhawk?” I asked and Coach sighed, “Does Mario know about this- Why didn’t you come to me before the game?!”

“Because we don’t want this getting out- Maggie, we understand you’re a woman and women need- You’re the only woman in the league and it was eventually going to happen where you would fall for another player-“

“You thought Kris and I were going to stay together?” I asked and Coach shook his head.

“No, though I’m happy that you’re not enemies,” he said and I sighed, “We certainly didn’t expect it to be a hawk you would go to.”

“So you want me to dump Pat?”

“NO!” Coach said and I sighed, I didn’t what I was going to do or say if Coach said yes, “Look, I don’t know who sent this, but I don’t want-“

“Let it out,” I said and Coach looked at me, “I don’t care what people say, I want to play and Pat and I are happy, let the people know that we’re in a relationship, that we’ve been in a relationship- Pretty sure they’ll look into it and see that I didn’t give the hawks a break when we played them last season.”

“Maggie-“

“Let them see, let the picture our and let me back in the damn game.”