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player ready...And in the end, Ed Belfour stubbed his toe, too.
For a second straight game, he gave the Blackhawks a chance to win. And for a second straight game, they failed to oblige their gallant goalie.
So there was Belfour, an hour after Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, attempting to maneuver about the visitors’ bathhouse in Joe Louis Arena when he banged his foot.
Belfour swore a blue streak, dressed between hyphens, then departed the rink, silent and limping.
He’ll live, assured trainer Mike Gapski. So will the Hawks, but time is running out on them, whistle or no whistle. If they keep talking about how close they’ve come to beating a team they deem beatable, they’ll be sounding like the Vancouver Canucks a week or so ago.
In six periods here, the Hawks have played only one with any authority, and that simply won’t cut it. Not until late in this Game 2 did Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov manage his first shot of the series, and one of these days, Steve Yzerman will return from the oxygen tank, providing several breaths of fresh air.
So, while the Hawks can claim a couple of near-misses for all their inconsistencies, the Red Wings can counter by saying they’ve yet to hit their full stride. And they’re halfway toward advancing to the Stanley Cup finals.
The Hawks did show more personality Sunday. They got another strong effort from Capt. Dirk Graham, their most effective forward Thursday night, and younger legs helped, too, in the person of Jeff Shantz. But, collectively, the Hawks couldn’t finish what they started too late anyway.
Murray Craven did uproot the Detroit cage several seconds before play was halted, and Tony Amonte did ding the post from downtown Windsor as goalie Mike Vernon might have been counting his octopuses before they were hatched, but that’s not really what hockey’s textbook defines as crashing the net. Most of the traffic flow has been at the other end.
The Hawks rare forays into pressure tactics produced results. Brent Sutter bumped Tim Taylor, and Chris Chelios moved in to score. Graham later leaned on Viachselav Fetisov, and Amonte scored, also unassisted. Otherwise, it was too much Belfour trying to pick up a black puck against a sea of white jerseys.
He had to be perfect instead of merely excellent. Belfour was going down when beaten by Doug Brown’s fadeway that dislodged the water bottle on the roof of the Chicago cage. Then, with 1:45 remaining, Belfour juggled Nicklas Lidstrom’s drive and Kris Draper converted, again upstairs. The Hawks hold Paul Coffey to 10 shots, then get whipped by Brown and Draper.
So it goes. The Hawks wanted more time after the Craven incident, as if they’d have put it to good use. But no such luck, and supervisor Wally Harris explained that the whole thing was by the rules. Had the Hawks seized control of the puck instead of Detroit, the whistle would have sounded immediately. Sounds fair. The Hawks aren’t that good at finding the net when it’s stationary, let alone a moving target.
Besides, the NHL is in favor of a quick pace. Thus, the current dilemma about octopus tossing. Mind you, this is the same league that will stagger playoff dates into July for TV ratings that barely exceed legal blood-alcohol levels. As for the Hawks, where’s the beef? A flying mollusk after a goal can break Detroit’s momentum and mean rest for the weary.
The Hawks probably have a few tired souls, too. Jeremy Roenick, broken toe and all, is giving away 40 pounds to Keith Primeau. The defensive corps is going to the wall more than Cubs outfielders. It’s been tough, physical, passionate. What’s the over/under for these two teams on players separated from their helmets?
The Hawks needn’t wonder whether they belong on the same ice with Detroit. But at this late date, the idea isn’t to win admiration. And the clock is ticking.