Mike Dunham?
If the NHL didn’t know a lot about him before Thursday night, they might get a chance down the road. The New Jersey goaltender, making his first start in only his second NHL appearance, certainly earned another start after stopping 35 shots to beat the Blackhawks 4-2 before 17,615 at the United Center.
The expected showdown between two of the league’s top goalies, the Hawks’ Ed Belfour and New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, didn’t materialize because Devils coach Jacques Lemaire gave Brodeur, who blanked Detroit 2-0 Wednesday, the night off.
Belfour probably wishes he had been given the night off too. The Devils (7-5-1) capitalized on three Hawks mistakes in their own zone, the last one coming 5 minutes 12 seconds into the third period when defensemen Gary Suter and Chris Chelios got crossed up and Dave Andreychuk cruised in on Belfour to put New Jersey up 4-2.
Dunham did the rest, stopping Tony Amonte and Kevin Miller point-blank later in the period.
“Dunham really wanted that win, especially in the third period,” said Amonte. “He’s such a big kid. He covers a lot of the net.”
He certainly blanketed the Hawks’ chances. Starting with kicking aside Bob Probert’s golden opportunity early in the first period, the 24-year-old was superb. “I was just enjoying it out there,” he said.
Hawks coach Craig Hartsburg didn’t enjoy the crucial mistakes by the Hawks (8-6-2).
“Mistakes in this league will kill you,” he said.
The Devils’ Brian Rolston broke a scoreless tie at 5:49 of the second period when his shot deflected off Chelios’ stick and flew over Belfour’s left shoulder. At 6:54, Jason Smith made it 2-0 when his screened shot escaped Belfour.
The Hawks got one back at 12:40 with a 5-on-3 power-play goal by Amonte, but New Jersey’s Valeri Zelepukin countered at 14:34.
Murray Craven cut it to 3-2 with 2:41 left in the period.
