St. Louis General Manager Ron Caron was annoyed that a face he thinks belongs in a teen magazine making girls swoon was going around beating up on his baby Blues.
So not only did Caron call up a St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist to berate Roenick as ”a dirty player,” but he blamed the absence of appropriate punishment from referees on the fact the Blackhawk is ”young, talented and cute.”
Roenick had a defiant pregame reaction to the verbal attack, which was the result of his strong check Sunday night on the Blues` Bob Bassen.
”Caron just made it harder for his club to win tonight,” he said. ”If his team loses, he has to take part of the blame. Our guys are pumped and ready to go. We love to read that stuff.”
But the news will be worse Wednesday morning, more hard fact than fancy. The Hawks couldn`t convert some early offensive chances, and the Blues retained first place overall in the National Hockey League with a 3-1 victory Tuesday night before a sellout crowd of 18,043.
The Hawks dropped three points behind the Norris Division-leading Blues, who have won nine consecutive games in the Arena and have triumphed in 13 of their last 16 overall. The Hawks had beaten the Blues 6-2 Sunday night at the Stadium.
Down 2-0 after allowing the Blues two first-period power-play goals, one of them Brett Hull`s 69th, the Hawks closed to 2-1 on Dirk Graham`s goal in the second period. The Blues were outgunned 13-3 in shots in this period.
The Hawks thought they had tied at 2 with 13 minutes 24 seconds left in the game when Greg Gilbert shot the puck into a net that had been knocked off its moorings by Hawk Mike McNeill, who tripped over goalie Pat Jablonski. Referee Kerry Fraser ruled no goal because a Hawk had dislodged the cage; it would have counted even with the net off its base if it had been bumped off by a St. Louis player.
Geoff Courtnall scored on a breakaway with 8:16 to go to lift the Blues into a 3-1 lead.
Oddly enough, this was the first NHL victory for Jablonski, a minor-leaguer who was an emergency replacement when Curtis Joseph injured himself in the opening two minutes.
As Caron predicted in the paper, the Blues ”targeted” Roenick throughout the game, paying him back repeatedly for what they felt was his impertinence Sunday. They checked him here, there and everywhere.
Defenseman Mario Marois stung him first, knocking off the center`s helmet on a check along the boards.
”That`s a backhanded compliment to Jeremy,” coach Mike Keenan said of Caron promising the Blues would strike back with a vengeance. ”Every good player in the league is a target every night.”
The first 20 minutes may have been the best period of the year as far as entertainment. It featured strong checking, great goaltending and dramatic offensive situations.
The first goal didn`t come until 4:42 remained in the period. Hull scored it on the power play, converting a great pass from center Adam Oates into a goal that jumped off his stick and high into the net.
From the right point, Oates spotted Hull sneaking down the right wing. He threaded a pass through the Hawks defense, and Hull just stuck his stick out and deflected the puck to earn his 69th goal.
St. Louis used another power play to grab a 2-0 lead. Cliff Ronning deflected in a shot by defenseman Scott Stevens, with Oates picking up his 70th assist.
Both goals came as a result of penalties to Hawks defensemen. When Hull scored, Steve Konroyd was sitting down for tripping. Chris Chelios`
cross-checking call set up Ronning`s goal.
Hawks goalie Ed Belfour and his defense were outstanding when the Blues went 1:47 with two extra skaters on the power play. They kept the Blues from scoring on both odd-man situations.
The Hawks had every chance to establish an early lead for the second straight game against the Blues. But they fumbled two crucial opportunities: a power play and a penalty shot in the opening 3:10.
Michel Goulet tried to slip the puck past Jablonski on the penalty shot, shooting from a few feet in front of the crease. He might have been better off trying to make a move, because his shot traveled wide left.
Jablonski was playing his first game in the NHL this season. He was pressed into duty just under two minutes into the game when starter Joseph appeared to pull a groin muscle as he stretched to try to block a shot by Steve Larmer that sailed wide.
Joseph had become the starter only because of a groin injury suffered last week by Vincent Riendeau. So the Blues were forced to go with minor-leaguer Jablonski, 0-3-0 last season in his first three NHL games.
Jablonski looked like an old pro when he stopped Roenick on two breakaways in the first period.
Roenick went to the penalty box for retaliating after Dave Lowry ran him over coming out of the Hawks zone. Roenick returned the hit at the opposite end, but was penalized for interference.
Hawks defenseman Frantisek Kucera was shaken up when he was checked in the opening period by Sergio Momesso. A roughing call on Momesso against Steve Thomas had provided the Hawks with their early power play.
