If Black Hawk followers think Sunday`s 5-4 overtime loss to Toronto was bad, picture this scene: A surprise, postgame 50th birthday party was planned for coach Bob Pulford in a suburban restaurant.
If the festivities were held–and players were mingling about after the game wondering whether they would be–it may have turned out to be one of the shortest celebrations in history, because Pulford couldn`t bring himself to talk to anyone immediately following the crushing defeat.
There surely couldn`t have been much enthusiasm left for streamers, balloons and noisemakers after the 3 1/2-hour marathon in the Stadium. The Leafs` Miroslav Frycer got the game-winner with his third goal of the night and second hat trick of the season against the Hawks.
”It`s always been an exciting game when we`ve played them this season,” said Toronto coach Dan Maloney, whose club has defeated the Hawks three consecutive times. ”But this was the topper. We knew they wanted to beat us badly and they didn`t. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of feeling in this game.”
The Hawks and Leafs are potential first-round playoff opponents, provided Chicago can hang on and win the Norris Division championship. The Hawks lead Minnesota by one point and St. Louis by two with four games remaining.
Toronto sends the Hawks into the final week of the regular schedule reeling from their first defeat in 12 overtime games this season (they`re 3-1-8 in such contests). The loss was the Hawks` second straight against an opponent with a sub-.500 record–they had lost 3-2 Saturday to New Jersey. This was also their seventh loss in the last 11 games.
”They sure play well against us, and they sure have our number,” said Hawk center Troy Murray. ”You want to go into the playoffs on a roll, and right now we`re not on one.
”We just didn`t capitalize when we had the chances. I had a wide-open shot in overtime and didn`t score. That`s the way it goes when you`re in a rut the way we are.”
The Hawks actually staged a nice comeback Sunday. It came during a wild, penalty-filled third period after they had fallen behind 4-2 on Frycer`s second goal.
Between the many trips to the penalty box by players from both clubs, Curt Fraser tipped in Bill Watson`s blast at 11:17 of the final period during a five-on-four power play and Darryl Sutter got an unassisted goal during a five-on-three power play at 18:32 to send the game into overtime. There were 22 penalties called in that third period.
Frycer then finished off the Hawks at 2:02 in overtime when he pushed home Dan Daoust`s feed in a jam-up in front of the net.
”I was trying to get to the puck and it just spun out,” said defenseman Doug Wilson. ”He shouldn`t get that chance, especially in overtime.”
”It sure was frustrating,” said Troy Murray. ”It`s pretty tough to get any momentum going in a game that lasts over three horus.”
Referee Ron Hoggarth interrupted play to count out 102 minutes for the 36 penalties he whistled. Keith Brown got a game misconduct for being the third man in a fight and Al Secord–battling almost everyone in sight, especially Gary Nylund and Borje Salming–collected six penalties for 15 minutes.
At one point, the Hawks got one bench penalty for having too many men on the ice just as Denis Savard and Secord were about to come out of the penalty box.
Perhaps the most amazing development was that, with all the penalty time piled up by both teams, Toronto`s Wendel Clark, the most penalized player on either team this season, didn`t spend a second in the penalty box.
”If things aren`t going your way, you can`t break the way we did,” said the Hawks` Bob Murray. ”You just can`t make mistakes the way we did.”
The Hawks fired 53 shots at goalie Ken Wregget, who got his third straight victory against them. Hawk goalie Bob Sauve faced 36 shots and was beaten twice on long shots for the Leafs` opening goals.
”I honestly don`t know why we do so well against them,” said Wregget.
”Maybe it`s their style of forechecking, or something.
”But I do know this game was pretty important for us. They wanted to get as high in the standings as they could, and for us to contain them in their own building is really good.”
The Hawks finished this game 2-for-7 on power-play situations while the Leafs were only 1-for-6. In Saturday`s loss to New Jersey, the Hawks were 0-for-5 on power plays.
”Any team that comes into our building and can be ahead or tied in the third period, it`s a big advantage,” said the Hawks` Ed Olczyk.
