You won`t catch any Blackhawk admitting to such boastful thoughts, but Sunday night`s 6-4 victory over St. Louis was the kind that leaves them and their fans thinking this group can go pretty far in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Maybe it`s brash, maybe it`s overconfident. But it`s realistic. The whole Chicago team, top to bottom, was better than St. Louis` bunch, not just one or two or three guys.
With one more victory, the Hawks will assure themselves of a ticket to the Norris Division finals. They lead the first-round series 3-2 with the next game Tuesday night in St. Louis.
It was difficult not to trip over a hero anywhere you walked in the Stadium dressing room. Even at lockers that frequently are bypassed for lack of interest, traffic jams caused a gridlock worse than the Kennedy Expressway. ”Isn`t that special?” Jocelyn Lemieux said of his effort, playing the ham for a rare media audience.
He just finished playing a runaway train on the ice, his strong body checks the medicine the Hawks needed, sending the Blues running for the aspirin bottle afterward. He made some of them so anxious and crash-conscious they started looking over their shoulder to make sure a bus wouldn`t suddenly veer into the building from West Madison Street and mow them down.
”When Jocelyn hits like that, it`s as good as a goal,” said Chris Chelios.
And Lemieux even got one of those, his score part of a big third-period assault in which the Hawks outshot St. Louis 18-9.
”Jocelyn was a gamebreaker for us,” coach Mike Keenan said. ”Guys who don`t get much recognition worked their butts off, players such as Brad Lauer, Dirk Graham and Brent Sutter.”
Keenan, of course, also mentioned Steve Larmer, whose star rose again after he scored twice, but he left Jeremy Roenick out of the plaudits. Not to mention leaving him out of most of the second period, when the Hawks` leading scorer in the regular season played two shifts.
”Mike asked me if I wanted to play,” Roenick said of their second-intermission conversation. ”I told him, `Put me in and watch me.` ”
Roenick played better and more often in the third period. A crowd of 17,428 chanted his name while he was chained up by Keenan and cheered his return.
”The fans lit a fire under me,” he said. ”Mike`s trying to light a fire under me, too. I deserved to be benched. I wasn`t getting to the net and stirring things up. I can get too laid back and comfortable. He`s a motivator and sometimes he motivates by criticism.”
Ed Belfour is likely to be the next Hawk to get an earful from Keenan. The goalie`s 22-save effort was far from his finest and left fans wondering right to the end whether the Blues might be able to pull off a miraculous rally.
”Eddie can play better and he knows it,” Keenan said.
Larmer finally showed up in these playoffs, scoring for the first time. The second of his two goals pulled the Hawks into a 3-3 tie midway through the second period after goals by Brett Hull and Brendan Shanahan earlier in the period wiped out a one-goal lead the Hawks owned after one period.
”As soon as we got the lead, that`s when we quit playing,” Hull said.
”We said, `We`re up 3-2, we`re going to win.` If we can win Game 6 we can come back here for Game 7 (Thursday) and anything can happen.”
Larmer`s second goal was one of his patented rockets from the top of the left circle that traveled just over Curtis Joseph`s left shoulder, a tough spot for the goalie to try and reach with his glove unless he had Houdini-like powers.
”I`ve been shooting into the middle of the net,” Larmer said, alluding to a spot where the goalies have the advantage. ”Tonight I concentrated on getting the puck on net rather than being so indecisive.
”My first goal, Keith Brown just made a great play at the point to keep the puck in and he got it to me.”
Another hero mentioned, one that seldom gets enough credit.
Goals by Lauer and Stephane Matteau had Joseph muttering to himself. Matteau was almost behind the net when he shot, and yet the puck hit the bottom of the crossbar and went in. Lauer shot a wraparound off his stick and into the net.
”We played well with a lead for a change,” Chelios said of the defensive highlight.
And winning without Roenick at his best can be viewed as a positive. This is a team, not a solo flight.
”He`s carried us most of this season,” Larmer said. ”It was nice we could work our butts off for him.”
