The Blackhawks’ 75th anniversary celebration ended less than a minute after Thursday night’s game began.
The end came when Detroit’s Doug Brown blasted a shot from the blue line into the net with the Hawks’ home opener 58 seconds old.
That goal on the Red Wings’ first shot was followed by Sergei Fedorov’s short-handed goal at 5 minutes 56 seconds and Tomas Holmstrom’s power-play goal at 8:39.
At that point the Hawks’ starting goalie, Jocelyn Thibault, got the hook and the 21,158 fans at the United Center got that sinking feeling they knew all too well last season.
Robbie Tallas, the free agent picked up from Boston during the summer, played an impressive game in relief of Thibault.
Playing a starting role, Manny Legace, the Red Wings’ seldom-used backup goalie, stopped 23 shots and shut out the Hawks 4-0.
“After nine minutes we played all right,” Hawks coach Alpo Suhonen said. “Jocelyn had a bad night; it happens. Robbie handled coming in very well.
“We never got back in the game in the scoring sense. Detroit is a very experienced team. They know how to play [with] a three-goal lead.”
Thibault surrendered goals on three of the four shots he faced. Tallas made 14 saves and held Detroit scoreless until Brendan Shanahan swatted in a short rebound in the final period.
“Robbie played a very solid game,” said Thibault. “The first goal was a bad goal. I should have made the save. Obviously I’m not happy about tonight, but it’s only our third game.”
Because of the pregame hullabaloo–highlighted by the announcement of the Hawks’ all-time all-star team–the game started about 10 minutes late.
“It’s probably more difficult for the home team,” Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. “You don’t want to lose your focus, but you do.”
The Red Wings’ Chris Chelios was one of the six defensemen selected on the Hawks’ all-star team. But Chelios didn’t put on a Hawks sweater like the others and was greeted with boos when he skated to center ice, wearing his Detroit uniform, to join his all-star teammates.
Bowman welcomed Chelios’ participation.
“The Blackhawks have a lot of history, and he was a big part of the Blackhawks for nine years,” said Bowman.
Chelios forced the turnover in the Detroit end and made the pass that set up Fedorov’s short-handed goal that came while their teammate, Steve Duchesne, was serving a four-minute penalty for high-sticking.
Because Chelios grew up in Chicago before his family moved to San Diego, being selected to the all-time all-star team held special significance.
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“There’s a lot of history and tradition with the Blackhawks,” he said, “and it was a big thrill to be standing out there with those players–players I grew up watching, like Whitey Stapleton and Stan Mikita.”
