Even dropouts from ”Sesame Street” have been able to keep track of how well the Blackhawks have fared this season trying to win consecutive games.
All they`ve had to do is count to one. Two straight victories were beyond the team`s reach in the first 30 games of the National Hockey League season.
But the Hawks are starting to appeal to those fans with a higher education. They won their second straight game Wednesday with a 4-3 decision over the Hartford Whalers.
Wayne Presley`s second goal of the game early in the third period was the winner.
Presley grabbed a loose puck low in the left faceoff circle and skated high into the circle, where he launched a slap shot that went off screened goalie Mike Liut`s body and caught the right corner of the net.
”Presley, perhaps more than anyone on the team, has changed his behavior in his approach to work,” coach Mike Keenan said. ”I wasn`t pleased with him in training camp, and he was on his way to the minors.”
Presley credited team psychologist Cal Botterill with improving his frame of mind.
”Before, I`d play just three or four shifts and look like a statue on the ice,” Presley said. ”Since working with Cal, I`m more relaxed, even if I only play three or four shifts.”
Presley`s offensive outbreak made him a high-sticking target midway through the last period. Hartford`s Tom Martin appeared to purposely shove his stick into Presley`s face. Presley dropped to the ice in pain from a cut around his mouth.
Martin received a five-minute penalty for high sticking and a game misconduct, but Hawk Troy Murray received a four-minute call for instigating a fight with Martin after Presley was injured.
Darren Pang has been a crowd favorite even during this so-far difficult season for the goaltender.
A turnout of 14,279 showered him with cheers when he assisted on a short- handed goal by Presley that gave the Hawks a 3-2 lead in the second period.
Pang controlled the puck when it was dumped into the Hawks` zone and flipped it high into the neutral zone down the middle. Presley picked it up near the blue line and had an unobstructed path at Liut.
Pang and defenseman Bob McGill ran into control problems in the third period, and Hartford tied the score 3-3 on a fluke goal.
Center Carey Wilson got around a prone Doug Wilson to get off a shot at Pang from left of the net. The goalie saved it but let the puck fall in the crease, where McGill tried to retrieve it.
It went off McGill`s stick in midair and into the net for a goal.
A power-play alteration made a difference. Denis Savard played the right point instead of being in one of the faceoff circles, while Murray moved into Savard`s old spot.
Savard, assisted by a Murray pass, and Dirk Graham scored first-period goals to send the Hawks to a rare early lead of 2-0.
Interestingly enough, Keenan warned his team in his pregame talk Sunday that the fans might be so negative during the game that the players would have to concentrate on blocking out that reaction.
It didn`t turn out to be a problem, though, as the Hawks ended a nine-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues.
AT A GLANCE
– STRONG NUMBERS: The Hawks` defense held Hartford to 26 shots, while their offense generated 40. Wayne Presley scored two goals and picked up his second game-winner this season.
– WRONG NUMBERS: A crowd of 14,279 was the lowest turnout so far this season. Tom Martin picked up a five-minute high-sticking penalty and a game misconduct for what appeared on the TV replay to be a purposeful jab at Wayne Presley`s face with his stick.
– QUOTABLE: ”We stayed to the basics at the end, and that`s what you have to do to win,” defenseman Dave Manson said.
– COMING UP: At St. Louis Saturday night.
