The Black Hawks` Keith Brown scored 1 minute 9 seconds into Thursday night`s game to end the Philadelphia Flyers` streak of getting the first goal in each of their previous 12 games.
And the Hawks` Curt Fraser got the evening`s last goal, jamming in a beautiful feed from the corner by Brown.
Those six goals in between were killers, however, because they all belonged to the Flyers, who romped to a 6-2 victory in the Spectrum and extended their winning streak to nine games.
”I don`t think we really even cared that much about who got the first one,” said Philadelphia`s Mark Howe, who scored twice. ”It`s too early. It`s more important who`s leading going into the third period. That`s when it really counts.”
The thrill of breaking one Philadelphia streak was obviously all the Hawks could handle.
Coach Bob Pulford, who is sounding more and more like a broken record himself, went behind closed doors and chose not to talk about his team`s latest defeat. The Hawks, outshot 37-20 Thursday night, are 4-8-1 for the season and sinking fast with three straight losses.
It has been more than two seasons since Chicago has won a road game against any of the National Hockey League`s premier clubs. The Hawks haven`t won at Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec, Montreal, Philadelphia, Washington or on Long Island since the 1982-83 season. Their last victory in Philadelphia was five games ago, March 8, 1983, with Tony Esposito in the nets. None of the teams they have beaten this season has a winning record.
Furthermore, the Hawks were going against a Philadelphia team (11-2-0)
that should have been softened a bit the previous evening by its game against the Rangers in New York.
Instead, the Hawks absorbed their second loss of the season to the 1985 Stanley Cup finalists, who won 5-2 in Chicago Oct. 20. In that game, the Flyers went ahead to stay in the final period on a fluke goal by Brian Propp. Philadelphia didn`t need any help from Propp, its leading scorer, in this rematch.
Pelle Eklund pulled the Flyers even in the first period with his third goal of the season, and Tim Kerr added his 12th and 13th goals of the year.
But Ron Sutter`s third goal of the season, which gave the Flyers a 4-1 lead in the second period, was the real back-breaker.
Sutter, sniffing out a puck that was caroming around the boards, went in unchecked to outwrestle Murray Bannerman for possession after the Hawk goalie had gone behind his net to take control of the puck.
With the other five Hawks on the ice looking more like spectators than players, Sutter then completed the wrap-around by circling the post to put in an empty-netter.
”We just didn`t play very smart,” said team captain Darryl Sutter
–Ron`s brother–in the particularly grim Hawk locker room. ”It`s tough to stick with a game plan when they`re up.
”I was reading before the game that they had scored the first goal in all their games. I guess, as it turned out, it didn`t make that much difference.”
The Hawks actually turned in a good first period, which was also the case in their loss to the Capitals in Washington Tuesday night.
”I think that was a big thing for them,” Howe said. ”They`re still a good team, but it had to be discouraging to play as well as they did in the first and then come out trailing 2-1.”
After Brown`s goal, which was his first point of the season, the Hawks quickly killed off two penalties to further build their hopes.
The Hawks` special teams had given up 8 goals in 14 power plays before facing the Flyers, and defenseman Jerome Dupont`s double minor led to the Flyers` first goal. Dupont got carried away while checking Ron Sutter into the boards and picked up penalties for holding and elbowing.
Eklund`s power-play goal was the only one of the night for Philadelphia in four tries.
Fraser`s power-play goal made the Hawks one-for-five.
”We`ve been through this many times before,” said Darryl Sutter, referring to the Hawk skid. ”I don`t think this is any worse. The only way out is to just put together a couple of wins.”
