The Black Hawks have had hat tricks from four different players during the current five-game winning streak that has carried them into first place in the Norris Division.
They have received great performances in the nets by goalies Murray Bannerman and Bob Sauve and there has been solid, defensive work by almost everyone on the ice.
”The kids,” as coach Bob Pulford refers to youngsters such as Ken Yaremchuk, Wayne Presley and Bill Watson, have also made some major contributions.
Now you can add Steve Larmer`s name to the list of contributors.
”I`ve been getting chances since Day 1 of the season, but if they don`t go in and we keep winning, that`s all right with me,” he said.
Everything came together–a Larmer goal and a 6-2 Black Hawk victory over the Minnesota North Stars–in grand style Sunday night in the Stadium, where Larmer`s third-period score unleashed a torrent of offense as well as emotion. ”The Larmer goal was definitely the turning point,” said Pulford of the score that broke a 2-2 tie before 17,567. ”They had just come to our end for what looked like an odd-man rush for them. Our guys really busted their butts to get back, and the hard work at one end paid off at the other.”
The goal was the first to win or tie a game this season for Larmer, who had seven such scores among his career-high 46 goals last season.
”Eddie Olczyk saw me going in late and nobody on their team picked me up,” said Larmer. ”I`ve had that same shot so many times before, but I tried something a little different this time. Thank goodness it went in.”
Larmer`s breakaway goal at 4 minutes 13 seconds of the final period gave the Hawks a 3-2 lead. Exactly one minute later, Denis Savard scored on a similar play. Presley made it 5-2 at 9:59 and Keith Brown completely shattered the North Stars with a blast from out in front at 14:56.
Is there any wonder Minnesota goalie Don Beaupre, who had brilliantly matched Bannerman up to the go-ahead goal, wound up getting a game misconduct at 16:11 for slashing the Hawks` Al Secord?
”It was frustration,” acknowledged Beaupre, who faced 47 of the Hawks`
53 shots. ”They just kept coming at us. I tried to take Larmer`s goal standing up, but he took it deeper than I thought he would before shooting.” The Hawks have won nine of their last 10 games, and, with his two goals, Savard`s personal scoring streak reached 14 games.
The decision, which ended the North Stars` winning streak at five
–longest in the Norris this season–also lifted the Hawks (18-16-4) into undisputed possession of the division lead, two points ahead of St. Louis. It`s the first time this season the Hawks have been two games over .500.
”We`ve really been putting some points together, and it feels great,”
said Bannerman. ”We have to keep working, though. We can`t stop just because we figure we`re going to get a lot. That`s when we stop working.”
The game was there to be won by either team until Larmer`s play. Goals by Savard and Troy Murray–who scored a short-handed goal a second after a North Star came out of the box during the penalty-filled game–made it 2-0 Hawks.
But the North Stars, who had played to an emotional overtime loss Saturday night against the touring Soviet Red Army club, got it back to 2-2 by the end of the second period on goals by Scott Bjugstad and Dino Ciccarelli. Then came Larmer`s tiebreaker.
The North Stars played most of the contest without No. 2 scorer Keith Acton, who received a game misconduct at 11:44 of the opening period for his spearing of Jerome Dupont.
”Losing Acton didn`t help,” said Minnesota coach Lorne Henning. ”He`s a sparkplug and he`s a good penalty-killer. We got into trouble after that.
”In the third, they just took it to us. We were on our heels, and they just took it to us.”
