It is one of the oldest cliches in sports. You’ve heard it a thousand times. But it’s true. Defense wins, and the Blackhawks proved it again Thursday night when they treated a capacity home-opening crowd of 21,359 at the United Center to a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins and their Incredible Flying Circus.
Goalie Ed Belfour stopped the high-powered Penguins cold until Mario Lemieux’s short-handed goal with 8:11 left to play. The Blackhawks got two goals from Patrick Poulin and one each from Jeff Shantz, Gary Suter and Bernie Nicholls to hand Pittsburgh its first defeat of the year.
“It definitely shows we can play defense against a great offensive club like that,” said Belfour. “We’ve always been known for a great defense and we showed it again tonight. I felt stronger as the game went along. I also had some good luck, too. That’s a great combination.
“They call us a lunch-box crew and that’s what we are. We’re hard workers.”
Nicholls saw the game as an opportunity for the Blackhawks to test themselves against a great offensive machine. “Few teams in the league have got as much offensive talent as Pittsburgh does,” he said. “We’ve got to see how we compare and how we can shut down teams like that.”
No one had shut down the Penguins in their first two games, when they scored a total of 14 goals, but “if you’re patient with those big guys,” said Nicholls, “you might get some offensive chances.”
Pittsburgh’s power play had quickly become one of the most feared in the league. With two megastars in Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr on the ice at the same time, the Penguins had scored on eight of their 15 power plays in their first two games.
So when Tony Amonte was sent off for hooking at 5:19 of the opening period, a shiver of apprehension ran through the crowd. It quickly turned to elation with Shantz’s short-handed goal. Shantz had initiated the play by winning the draw in his own end, sending the puck to Chris Chelios behind the Hawks’ net.
The Blackhawks’ captain, trying to clear the zone, sent the puck around the boards, but it took a quirky bounce off the glass and straight to Shantz on the opposite side of the ice.
With Brent Sutter on his right, Shantz headed for the Penguins’ goal and let fly from the left circle, beating Tom Barrasso high on the short side just nine seconds into the Pittsburgh power play.
Barrasso was a busy man for a while after that. On one rush, Amonte broke through along the left boards and centered to Poulin, but Barrasso turned the shot aside. A little later, Sergei Krivokrasov, on a give and go from Joe Murphy, appeared right in front of Barrasso, but was taken down from behind, and his nose bloodied, by Chris Joseph, who was sent to the penalty box.
Nicholls had a great opportunity when he took a pass from Denis Savard and skated it in front of Barrasso, but again the Penguins’ goalie made the save.
Amonte almost scored on another breakaway when Barrasso gloved his shot as he was tumbling backwards into the net. The puck popped loose, hit the crossbar, and fell on the wrong side of the goal line.
But the Hawks soon had another power play, and this time they cashed it in. Just 20 seconds after Markus Naslund went to the box for interference, Suter banged in his second goal of the season from the slot to make it 2-0.
Savard started the play by digging the puck off the boards behind Barrasso’s cage and sliding it across to Amonte, who sent it out front.
Bob Probert missed a great chance when he fanned on a pass in front by Eric Daze, but a few minutes later the Hawks made it 3-0 on Nicholls’ first goal of the season.
