The 20,532 fans at the United Center remembered the roar that reverberated through the old Chicago Stadium and greeted the Blackhawks with a resounding ovation Sunday night when they took the ice for their first home playoff appearance since April 26, 1997. Unfortunately for the fans, the Hawks had a terrible case of amnesia.
When the game began, the Hawks completely forgot what had given them a home record that equaled Detroit’s as the best in the NHL in the regular season.
After taking the crowd out of the game in the first two minutes, the St. Louis Blues proceeded to disassemble the Hawks in virtually every phase of the game. En route to a 4-0 victory in the Western Conference quarterfinal contest, the Blues hit the Hawks with an even-strength goal, a pair of power-play goals and a short-handed goal. And, from start to finish, they forechecked relentlessly.
Like the crowd, the Hawks had no answer. Thanks to goaltender Brent Johnson’s second straight shutout, the Blues took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series that will continue Tuesday night at the United Center.
“The fans and everything at the beginning was absolutely incredible, and it was wasted,” said Hawks coach Brian Sutter. “I’m not very happy with what went on. We’re embarrassed as a team. They’re a darn good team, but we’re a heck of a lot better than we showed.
“It had to be one of the worst hockey games you ever watched. There was absolutely no flow to the game from start to finish. It wasn’t a tough game for either goalie to play by any stretch of the imagination.”
The Hawks’ hockey horror show began with 1 minute 48 seconds elapsed when Jamal Mayers fired a shot from the left faceoff circle past goalie Jocelyn Thibault.
It continued at 13:26 of the opening period when Keith Tkachuk went behind the net to pass the puck to Scott Mellanby for a successful power-play shot from the near right.
The horror show resumed at 63 seconds of the second period when Pavol Demitra scored a close-in power-play goal with the assistance of Tkachuk and Mellanby.
Then, with 50 seconds remaining in the middle period, came the coup de grace. With the Hawks on a power play, Thibault ventured a few feet out of the net to try to pass the puck up ice. Instead, Thibault muffed the puck. Scott Young pounced, sped behind the net and came out on the other side to tap in the Blues’ fourth goal.
Sutter replaced Thibault with Steve Passmore at the start of the third period.
The Blues were limited to six shots on goal in that period. But the Hawks’ counterattack consisted of a single shot, by left wing Eric Daze.
The Hawks simply couldn’t cope with St. Louis’ zone trap defense.
“When other people check, you have to fight your way through,” Sutter said. “Our people who have given us offense all year have to fight through those checks.”
Alex Zhamnov, Tony Amonte and Kyle Calder on the first line had a total of four shots, and Michael Nylander, Steve Sullivan and Daze on the second line combined for three.
“The whole series we’ve been very solid defensively,” said St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville. “Our foundation is defense first. Brent Johnson is big in net, and he’s handling the puck well. The defense in front of him has done a tremendous job clearing lanes and clearing pucks, making it tough on them to get easy chances.
“That first goal was huge. Jamal made a great shot and that really helped quiet the building.”
Blackhawks penalties and St. Louis penalty-killing also were significant in setting the trend of the game.
“They had five power plays in the first period,” Sutter said. “That took something out of what we had to do as a team. You knew we were going to get calls in the second period. We had three power plays in the second and didn’t get anything. If we get something on the power play in the second period, it’s a different game.”
Amonte admitted the Hawks were “demoralized.”
“The crowd wanted something and we didn’t give them anything,” he said. “I hope the people come back the same way Tuesday because we’re sure going to need them.”
