Q: What do the Bulls and Detroit Red Wings have in common?
A: They’re both heavy favorites to win championships this year. And both rule the United Center.
Like the Bulls, the Wings just don’t lose here. The Wings are 5-0-1 in the United Center in regular-season games after ripping the Blackhawks 4-1 Sunday afternoon.
The Hawks aren’t the same team without Jeremy Roenick and Murray Craven, but against the Wings it doesn’t seem to matter who dresses. It’s like watching a crab try to catch a butterfly.
The lease might not say it, but the Detroit Red Wings Inc. have assumed at least partial ownership of the property at 1901 W. Madison St.
The victory was Detroit’s 59th this season, against 13 losses and seven draws. The Wings can break the National Hockey League record for victories by taking two of their last three games. They’re home against Winnipeg Wednesday and the Hawks Friday and end the regular season Sunday at Dallas.
If recent history means anything, the middle match qualifies as an absolute gimme.
“It’s not something we really think about,” said Steve Yzerman, who assisted Nicklas Lidstrom on Detroit’s fourth goal Sunday. “We don’t know what’s going on in their minds or in their dressing room. We just knew we were coming here off the West Coast, with no wins in our last three games.”
The Hawks occupied the home dressing quarters, and they wore their white sweaters. But the Wings made themselves right at home. They even imported a Motown tradition when a Wings fan tossed an octopus out of the stands to celebrate Detroit’s fourth goal.
Dino Ciccarelli kindly scooped up the mess. A guest shouldn’t have to clean up after a party.
Detroit has outscored the Hawks 21-9 this season. The Wings never seem to give the Hawks even a glimmer of hope, let alone an opportunity. In five games this year they’ve conceded one first-period goal to the Hawks.
The Hawks always seem to be playing catchup against these guys, and Sunday was no different. Ciccarelli netted the game’s first goal on a power play at 5 minutes 6 seconds of the first period. And then Igor Larionov made it 2-0 when he stuffed in a loose puck in the crease with 13 seconds to go in the period.
Detroit was never seriously threatened after that.
One reason was a league-leading penalty-killing unit that shut the Hawks out on five power plays. That was part of a larger defensive effort that limited the Hawks to only six shots in the first 25 minutes and three in the final period.
Detroit gives up only 2.21 goals per game, best in the NHL.
It could have been a lot uglier. The Wings had at least a man advantage for nearly a full period–19:26, to be exact–but they netted only three goals in 13 power plays.
“A third of the game we were on the power play,” coach Scotty Bowman said. “We didn’t score very many, but we didn’t let them score, either.”
Of course, the Wings may have lost interest after a while. It’s hard to keep your mind on the movie when you already know how it’s going to end.
“It’s just like everybody said, `Let’s get it over with,’ ” Yzerman said.
