The Blackhawks are winning more than games at the moment. They are winning believers and establishing credence in a city that has long held little trust or patience with this uncertain organization.
After all, those were the famed and storied Les Canadiens that the Hawks chopped into common mincemeat Thursday night at the Stadium for a 5-3 victory. For coach Mike Keenan`s group of born-again hockey players, it was not only their fourth straight triumph, but ended a string of 12 straight games in which Montreal had arrogantly carved out a 7-0-5 record by whipping the poor lads from Chicago.
Two Hawk goals in each of the first two periods sent them to a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes for an enthusiastic crowd of 17,370. Steve Thomas scored two of them and now has five goals in the last four games.
The Hawks are 5-1-1 in their last seven games and 7-4-1 overall for 15 points, second-best point total in the National Hockey League. They didn`t gather this many points last season until Nov. 16.
Mike Hudson`s third-period goal, a persistent effort off a rebound coming from Jeremy Roenick`s shot, stretched the lead to 5-1 with 12 minutes 14 seconds left.
Montreal goals by Shayne Corson and Guy Carbonneau, his second of the game, cut the lead to 5-3 with 4:08 to tick.
The second of Thomas` goals came on the sizzling line with center Troy Murray and Dirk Graham that racked up four goals Tuesday against Detroit. Graham was out there for Thomas` first score, but the other assist on that play went to center Denis Savard.
The Hawks survived a critical junction early in the second period when referee Dan Marouelli whistled them two men short for 66 seconds. Chicago didn`t let the Canadiens score from this high-percentage situation and protected a 2-0 lead.
Defenseman Trent Yawney was already in the penalty box for high sticking when center Adam Creighton was called for tripping Chris Chelios behind the Montreal net.
The Canadiens experienced two near misses on the power play while they had two extra men. Mats Naslund hit the post with his shot off a rebound and Russ Courtnall`s shot bounded off goalie Jacques Cloutier and fell dangerously behind him in the crease.
Defenseman Doug Wilson was there to tuck the puck under Cloutier, who flopped back onto it to end the threat.
Creighton scored his sixth goal of the season to push the Hawks ahead 3-0 with over 12 minutes remaining in the middle period. He tipped the puck in midair that defenseman Dave Manson had cracked from the left point and Chicago succeeded with just 10 seconds remaining on a power play.
The Thomas goal that drove the lead to 4-0 with 7:12 to go came from the right side of the net after Graham served up a sharp pass from the left side. Murray also assisted on the play.
Cloutier, who already had one shutout at the Stadium this year, lost his bid for another with 3:13 left in the second period. Carbonneau picked up the goal.
But through two periods, the Hawks had carried most of the action, as reflected in their 29 shots opposed to Montreal`s 15.
The Hawks struck for two goals in the opening 5:05 of the first period. The scores by Wayne Van Dorp and Thomas were both generated off plays in which Chicago carried the action to Montreal.
Creighton hung onto the puck off a faceoff in the Canadiens zone. He passed across to Van Dorp, who was in the slot. Van Dorp slipped the puck by goalie Brian Hayward`s stick side for his second goal this season and third ever in his NHL career.
Already it`s a banner season for Van Dorp, whose primary role on the team is to perform as the tough guy. He added a bit of finesse, though, with this goal against Montreal.
The Hawks began the night with the second most power-play goals at home in the NHL-10. But they couldn`t produce an 11th on their first power play of this game, coming in the first period. They had some good attempts, nonetheless, and continued to hold command of the game.
Chicago outshot the Canadiens 16-9 in the first 20 minutes.
Russ Courtnall arrived on goalie Jacques Cloutier`s doorstep with the puck with less than six minutes to play in the first period. But Cloutier made a strong save to reject Courtnall`s shot from a prime location.
Manson cranked a hard shot at Hayward late in the period that he had to wrestle down in the crease with the help of his pad. It was one of several near misses that made the crowd very vocal and noisy.
