For nearly 60 minutes Sunday night, the Blackhawks skated stride for stride with the Stanley Cup champion–and bitter rival–Detroit Red Wings.
For most of those 60 minutes, the Hawks led, first by one goal, then by two, then again by one, then again by two.
But nearly 60 minutes isn’t 60 minutes, and 60 minutes of solid, mistake-free play is what it takes to beat the Red Wings. The Hawks found that out with a bitter 4-3 overtime loss before a standing-room-only crowd of 21,295 at the United Center.
Jason Woolley, discarded earlier in the season by Buffalo, scored the winner 1 minute 11 seconds into overtime off a feed from Brett Hull. It ended the Hawks’ eight-game unbeaten streak.
“It’s hard, because we played really well the whole game,” defenseman Phil Housley said, struggling to sum up what was both an exhilarating and heartbreaking night.
“I thought we controlled the game for 50 minutes,” Hawks winger Theo Fleury said. “We let them back in the game for the last 10.”
The night wasn’t a total loss for the Hawks, who picked up another point by going into overtime. But one point won’t make up for the lost point the Hawks thought they should have earned.
“It’s our fault,” goaltender Jocelyn Thibault said. “We should have played better in the third.”
The Hawks took a 2-0 lead into the third period on second-period goals by Kyle Calder and Steve Poapst.
It was Calder’s third goal in as many games and the fourth power-play goal for the Hawks in their last five games.
After Thibault denied Kirk Maltby from close range at 6:35 of the second, defenseman Steve Poapst scored his first of the season, set up nicely by Alex Zhamnov.
But the lead was cut in half on a terrible giveaway in their own end early in the third period.
Defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev whiffed on a clearing pass, and Sergei Fedorov–dangerous every time his skates touch the ice–walked into the loose puck, teed up at the top of the right faceoff circle and blew a shot past Thibault at 2:46.
The goal stopped a shutout streak Thibault had against the Wings this season at 102:36.
Fleury made it a two-goal lead again when his one-timer from Zhamnov deflected off Maltby’s skate and slid past Detroit goalie Curtis Joseph at 9:43. It was Zhamnov’s third assist of the game.
Then the Wings found that extra gear only they possess.
“That’s why they’re the Stanley Cup champions,” defenseman Lyle Odelein said. “They keep coming at you all the time. They have four lines that can all play.”
Hull took center stage in the city his father once owned. His two goals–Nos. 693 and 694–came on neat little deflections in front of the Hawks’ goal. The first came on a power play off a shot from Brendan Shanahan, the second from Nicklas Lidstrom with just 37 seconds left in regulation.
“I thought I had everything covered,” Thibault said of the tying goal. “But I didn’t.”
After Fleury was denied a potential winner in overtime, Hull led a two-on-one rush and gave a perfect feed to Woolley.
“I have a thing on a 2-on-1, that the goalie will look for me to shoot because he thinks I’m a shooter,” Hull said. “Jason got open and I got it over to him.”
Said Odelein: “We felt we could have won this game. No one likes to lose, but on the positive side, for 59 1/2 minutes we felt we had this game won.”
But 59 1/2 minutes is not 60 minutes. And against Detroit, every second counts.
