Onward to Edmonton? Or back to Minnesota?
When the Black Hawks hit the ice Sunday night in the Stadium, they will be in a position to end their Stanley Cup quarterfinal series with the North Stars.
The Hawks lead the best-of-seven series 3-1. A victory would give them the remainder of the week to rest and prepare for the first semifinal game Saturday in Edmonton.
But Bob Pulford, the Hawks` general manager and coach, refuses to look beyond Sunday night. ”I have too much respect for Minnesota to even talk about Edmonton,” he said in a huff when the subject was brought up after Saturday`s practice. ”Lots of teams have been up 3-1 and lost the series.”
North Star captain Craig Hartsburg is convinced that it can be accomplished. ”If anybody thinks this team will quit, they`d better think again,” he said following Thursday`s 7-6 loss in an 81-minute 57-second double-overtime marathon in Minnesota.
A North Stars` victory would send the series back to Minnesota for Game 6 Tuesday night. If a seventh game is necessary, it will be played Thursday night in Chicago Stadium.
”We don`t want to go back to Minnesota,” said Denis Savard, who scored a pair of goals and assisted on two others while playing on a sore left ankle. ”We need the rest.”
No one needs rest more than goalie Murray Bannerman. Despite strained stomach muscles that have cramped his style since February, Bannerman has played all but 13 minutes of the seven playoff games against Minnesota and Detroit.
In Games 3 and 4 in Minnesota, he had to withstand a 95-shot avalanche in carrying the Hawks to their two pressure-packed triumphs.
”There`s no justice,” cried Minnesota coach Glen Sonmor. ”We outplayed them in both games. We outshot them 37-14 after two periods (Thursday). That`s exactly how we wanted to play, but the score was 4-4.”
At times in his career, Bannerman has had problems with dehydration when the action has been as hot and heavy as it was in Minnesota.
”I drank a lot of fluids and took potassium supplements between periods,” Bannerman said. ”I`ve been okay. But I felt I let them get some bad goals.”
Take it from the North Stars, Bannerman more than made up for his lapses. ”He was tremendous,” Hartsburg said. ”With any luck at all, our forwards would have had six goals.”
Although the talented Minnesota forwards fired 38 rounds on goal Thursday, only Tony McKegney`s third-period shot got through.
Unexpectedly, defensemen accounted for five goals. Randy Velischek scored two, and Ron Wilson, Hartsburg and Gordie Roberts had one apiece. During the regular season, defensemen provided only 11.5 percent of North Star goals, 31 of 268.
”The reason their defensemen got those goals is that we have guys who are trying to do too much,” said Pulford. ”They got 20 shots from the point, which is way too many. People are leaving their assignments and trying to do someone else`s job. If we get that kind of effort under a controlled situation, we`ll do well.”
Covering point shots is the responsibility of the Hawk forwards. The defensemen have done a relatively good job of clearing the rebounds, but when Minnesota has controlled the puck for extended stretches in the Chicago end coverage has sometimes unraveled.
The Hawk defensemen were conspicuous offensive contributors during the season and have continued to exert an influence in the playoffs. Excellent passes by Bob Murray and Doug Wilson prefaced two of Thursday night`s goals. Another goal came on the deflection of a shot rifled from the point by Jack O`Callahan.
Goaltending seems to be Minnesota`s biggest problem. Gilles Meloche was the key to the North Stars` upset sweep of St. Louis in the opening round of the playoffs. However, he was relieved by Don Beaupre in the third period of Game 3 after the Hawks tagged him for 15 goals in three nights.
Beaupre, who usually is a Hawk nemesis, hadn`t played since the next-to-last game of the regular season. The rust showed when he started Game 4. The Hawks scored on three of their first five shots.
Sonmor resisted the temptation to take out Beaupre after the second period, but when Savard tied the score 6-6 with 7:28 left in regulation time, Beaupre got the hook and Meloche returned.
Meloche has a tendency to give up a little on rebounds, something muscular Hawk power forwards Al Secord and Curt Fraser and the slender but resourceful Darryl Sutter thrive on.
The Hawks lost Game 1 in the Stadium 8-5 but rebounded to take the second game 6-1. Both nights, they outshot the North Stars, 47-38 in defeat and 41-27 when they won.
”We`re tired for sure,” Savard said. ”But Minnesota is just as tired, and we`re going to have all those people in the Stadium to get us pumped back up. There are no fans in the world like Chicago fans. We owe it to them to end it at home.”
