As they’re boasting here, the only time the San Jose Sharks touched Detroit’s mighty Red Wings during that recent wipeout of a series was when it ended with perfunctory handshakes.
Not so Thursday night, when the Blackhawks arrived in Joe Louis Arena, a facility that was old when it was new.
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The name fit, however. This Stanley Cup semifinal featured hockey heavyweights, and the more referee Terry Gregson let the teams play, the better it could have been for the visitors.
The Hawks sacrificed their bodies, but almost all of their offense in this rugged opener. They were stuck on a paltry 14 shots when Nicklas Lidstrom beat goalie Ed Belfour on a low rocket just 61 seconds into overtime for a 2-1 Detroit victory.
Yes, the Hawks were better than the San Jose Sharks. But the Hawks also will have to be better than they were Thursday night, when they spent too much time in their half of the ice. To have stolen this game would have been grand theft.
So much for their scouting report on Mike Vernon, Detroit goalie: “We must make him move laterally or screen him. He is not quick. He is vulnerable in the five-hole (between the legs). He catches well but he is small (5-foot-9) and can be beaten high. Controls rebounds well but will give some from pad saves.”
Maybe the Hawks can exploit those alleged weaknesses in Game 2 on Sunday.
Joe Murphy did pounce on a rebound for a 1-0 lead on a powerplay. We’ll repeat that. Hawks score on a powerplay. Jeremy Roenick came around Vernon from the left of the cage, and after the save, Murphy was utterly alone for the carom.
Otherwise, the Hawks couldn’t really crack the Detroit defense they believe is beatable. Mike Ramsey and Viacheslav Fetisov are closer to age 40 than 30. The great Paul Coffey, 34 on Thursday, must be bumped off his game. If they can get him or Lidstrom backing in on Vernon, the Hawks will take their chances. They also think Coffey and Lidstrom are not especially fond of mixing it up.
As one of the official Hawk types said about the Detroit defense: “The playoffs are a month old, and they haven’t been hit yet.”
The Hawks tried early Thursday night, giving Coffey the body even after he got rid of the puck. Not that the Red Wings weren’t challenging Chris Chelios. Keith Primeau checked him up and over Belfour for a roughing penalty that created the manpower advantage on Murphy’s score.
Primeau, however, atoned in the second period with a deft flip that escaped Belfour on the short side for a 1-1 tie. There was precious little room for Primeau’s shot-almost an afterthought-but an octopus is an octopus.
Besides the game itself, the most imposing presence Thursday night was the truck parked inside the Arena behind the Red Wings’ dressing room. The hyperbaric oxygen chamber is in town to help cure Steve Yzerman, the Detroit captain with the injured right knee. The device expedites recovery by pumping 100 percent pure oxygen through a mask to the player’s lungs instead of the normal 21 per cent that we usually breathe.
Gary Suter, the ailing Hawk defenseman, is doing the same thing back in Chicago for his broken right hand. He did not make the trip so he could find better oxygen.
The Vancouver Canucks, stressed out from the league’s worst travel schedule, have been using the chamber for a while now. Judging by the way they played in their last series against the Hawks, though, all this clean air doesn’t necessarily make its way to the brain. Or the heart.
“How about that $25 million faker?” said TV analyst Don Cherry, the former NHL coach who now is the John Madden of Canada. “Pavel Bure, the Olympic diver. He pulled the parachute in that last game. The Hawks didn’t even hit him and he went down. They’ll have to hit the Wings, and will, and the Hawks might win.”
But not with 14 shots. More oxygen for the Hawks?