Patrick Kane unhappy about Sebastian Aho cross-check: ‘I just don't like that play'

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Patrick Kane is as durable an athlete as they come. 

Since the start of the 2015-16 season, he’s missed only one game and it was because of an illness on Oct. 31, 2018 vs. Calgary, which ended a 258-game Iron Man streak.

The only time he’s missed significant action in his NHL career came during the 2014-15 campaign when he broke his collarbone and was sidelined for the final 21 games of the regular season.

Tuesday ignited some flashbacks for the former Hart Trophy winner.

With under a minute to play in regulation and the Blackhawks trailing by one, Kane went to retrieve the puck along the boards in the offensive zone and was cross-checked from behind by Sebastian Aho. Kane took a heavy, scary spill into the boards and it looked very similar to the hit Florida Panthers defenseman Alex Petrovic laid on him on Feb. 24, 2015 that ended his MVP-type regular season.

"I just don't like that play," Kane said after practice on Wednesday. "I'm pretty sensitive to that play because that's kind of how I broke my collarbone four or five years ago. I just don't like that play where you're going in, your back's turned, you get the cross-check in the back when you're unsuspecting and the puck's not there, so I think that's where the frustration came from."

There was no penalty called and Kane threw his hands up in disbelief. The unfortunate part about the play is Aho probably gets a penalty if Kane stays down on the ice, but Kane’s instincts kicked in and he quickly got back up to try keeping the puck in the zone.

Frustrating boiled over after Aho scored the empty-netter with 17.6 seconds left to ice the game. Kane skated over to Aho and gave him a cross-check of his own, which resulted in a 10-minute misconduct. 

"When I got hit like that I was just trying to keep the play alive because I thought they would for sure call it, to be honest with you,” Kane said. “But there's plays throughout the game that don't get called and that's just the way it is. That one's probably more magnified because of the situation and how much time was left."

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