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player ready...Bob Probert is an original. Try as they have, no National Hockey League team has turned out a carbon copy of the Detroit Red Wings` intimidator.
”It`s to the point where he is one of their better players,” said Blackhawks defenseman Steve Smith. ”We`ll have to try and slow him down. We`ll have to accept anything he does within the rules. If he goes outside the rules, the referees will have to take care of it.”
Probert purposely tried to take out Hawks goalie Ed Belfour in his team`s 2-1 loss Saturday in Game 1 of the Norris Division finals. ”It was premeditated and intentional,” Hawks coach Mike Keenan said of Probert`s second-period charge into Belfour behind the net.
But Keenan said he didn`t expect his players to be bothered by Probert during this series. ”I think they really did learn a lesson about discipline last year against Minnesota,” he said.
– Steve Yzerman, frustrated all season by the Hawks, has to be plotting revenge for Game 2 Monday night.
As well as the center has played at times against Chicago, he has been able to score points in only one of nine games this season.
”You have to close the gap on him quick,” Keenan said. ”The more time he has to play with the puck, the more dangerous he is.”
– Detroit coach Bryan Murray saw one positive in Game 1: The Hawks` Jeremy Roenick didn`t score. ”If we can shut down Roenick on a regular basis, in the long run it will hopefully pay dividends,” he said.
”Probert wanted to create an atmosphere for the team and we didn`t pick up on it. We can`t win scoring one goal. We have got to put the heat on Belfour.”
– Defenseman Keith Brown`s assist streak of six games ended Saturday. That left him one short of equaling Denis Savard`s club record of seven consecutive games with an assist in the 1989 playoffs.
But that wasn`t what kept Brown up late. He watched in amazement from his hotel window at 2:30 a.m. Sunday as a motorist crashed randomly into cars in the street below. The man was arrested.
”It was like watching a movie,” he said. ”Really unbelievable.”
– Michel Goulet practiced the last two days, but when the left wing will be available to play remains uncertain. He is still bothered by a groin injury that has forced him to miss all the playoff games so far.
– If Detroit beats the Hawks to advance to the Campbell Conference finals against the Vancouver-Edmonton winner, Probert will be able to play only in home games. Because of a drug-related conviction, immigration authorities refuse to allow Probert to cross into Canada and then return to the U.S.