It was a two-faced hockey game that the Blackhawks played Sunday at the United Center.
Ugly on the ice.
A thing of beauty for Hawks fans to behold when they look at the Western Conference standings and see their fourth-place team four points ahead of fifth-place Phoenix and soaring beyond the 90-point barrier for the first time in six years.
Alex Zhamnov and Tony Amonte supplied the goals and Jocelyn Thibault returned to the lineup with a solid game in goal to lead coach Brian Sutter’s team to a 2-1 triumph over the year-old expansion team that calls itself the Wild, but would be more appropriately christened the Minnesota Zone Trappers.
“Absolutely no tempo or flow at all,” Sutter said. “That’s the way they like to play it.
“But you know what? We won the game.”
The fourth straight victory for the Hawks was the first for their No. 1 goalie since March 7. Thibault went 0-3-2 in his previous five games and Sutter had to call on backup Steve Passmore to get his team out of its rut.
“I was very happy to see Steve do well and get some success,” Thibault said. “At the same time it was frustrating because I couldn’t get a win. Obviously, I wanted to do my share.
“It was just a great feeling today. I really felt good about my game.”
Thibault’s workload was relatively light–the Wild took only 19 shots, scoring on the 12th shot when defenseman Jason Marshall finished an uncontested rush to the net at 8 minutes 34 seconds of the third period.
But the Hawks had beaten the Wild to the punch thanks to Zhamnov’s 22nd goal, which was angled in from the right side late in the first period, and Amonte’s 25th, which came on a blast from the left circle early in the second.
“I’ve got enough experience so that I can still play at a high level when I’m not seeing a lot of shots,” Thibault said. “After they scored that goal, I just wanted to hold on.”
Thereafter Minnesota managed to find some scoring opportunities and Thibault had to make some tough saves to keep the Wild from tying the score.
In the last two seconds he got help from the post on his left, which sent a shot from Marian Gaborik clanging out of the way.
“It was a tough, boring game,” Amonte said. “They bottle up the neutral zone and there’s nowhere to go. You know you won’t get a two-on-one or a three-on-two. It’s more tough mentally than physically.”
The Wild side: Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire agreed that it an unexciting game that the 14,835 fans sat through. “I thought the second period was two hours with all the icings and offsides,” Lemaire said.
Lemaire defended his team’s defensive-accented approach, however.
“We don’t get bored,” he said. “For us it’s: What are you going to do to win the game? It’s never boring for us–even if there’s 50 faceoffs in 10 minutes.”
Missing persons: Right wing Steve Thomas, who came off the injured list March 18 and played in the five previous games, sat out Sunday, trying to get over the flu. “He’s been sick for about a week,” general manager Mike Smith said. . . . Defenseman Boris Mironov (dislocated right shoulder) missed his ninth straight game and right wing Steve Sullivan (separated left shoulder) his fourth in a row.
