Oddly enough, Blackhawk Keith Brown was tied for the lead in scoring among defensemen in the NHL playoffs before Monday`s Wales Conference games.
Another strange twist was that the Hawks had scored the most goals of any team in the postseason (21). Next in the Campbell Conference come Edmonton
(20), St. Louis (18) and Los Angeles (18). This had been the lowest-scoring Hawks team (regular season) in 12 years, so this offensive clout was unexpected.
Brown and the Kings` Paul Coffey both have seven points. However, they are opposites: Coffey has made his reputation as an offensive defenseman, Brown for his ability to play defense and take out his man. His offense is little noted, even tough he has a decent shot he too rarely uses.
However, one reason the Hawks` power play has been consistently effective in the playoffs, scoring on eight of 34 chances and rating fifth among the 16 teams through Sunday, is that defensemen such as Brown have been able to get point shots on net. The same holds true for even strength.
Coming back: Greg Gilbert is expected to return to the lineup for Game 6 against St. Louis Tuesday night. He has been out since the day the players returned from their 10-day strike. He injured his knee in the first practice back when he collided with Tony Hrkac.
Gilbert will likely slip into the spot opened by Dean McAmmond`s injury. The rookie winger sprained a knee when the Blues` Brendan Shanahan tripped him in Game 5. He`s expected to be sidelined three to four weeks.
A grand night: The second of the Hawks` six goals Sunday carried them into an exclusive club. They became only the third NHL team to have totaled 1,000 playoff goals. Montreal and Boston are the others.
On sale: Those who think Hawks tickets are unavailable for upcoming games are wrong. Whether it be Game 7 (if necessary) Thursday night or the Hawks`
opening games in the division finals-if they should beat the Blues-the club reports that about 3,500 tickets are on sale at the Stadium and via TicketMaster. But which days the Hawks would possibly host the finals is uncertain until the Detroit-Minnesota series is decided.
On the tube: According to SportsChannel officials, five area cable systems reported increases in HawkVision subscribers for Sunday night`s game. Of the five, the smallest increase was 17 percent, the largest 58 percent, verifying research SportsChannel had done on the North Stars` pay-per-view telecasts last year. ”They found as the team progresses (through the playoffs), orders increase exponentially,” said a SportsChannel official.