Well, at least it wasn’t Dino Ciccarelli.
That would have been the ultimate indignity for the Blackhawks and their fans, had this annual antihero raised his fists toward the roof of the United Center to signal victory Tuesday night.
Instead, it was Vladimir Konstantinov whose soggy 40-footer brought Detroit’s destined Red Wings a 4-3 conquest 9:25 into the second overtime.
His silencer confirmed what should be quite evident about the Red Wings. They are so talented and so deep that any defensive breakdown by the opposition can be catastrophic.
The last mistake Tuesday night belonged to, of all people, Ed Belfour. The Hawks goalie, brilliant throughout this tournament and again in Game 3 1/2, boxed Konstantinov’s low-octane wrister. The puck banked off Belfour’s right blocker arm and nestled into the net.
On Detroit’s 51st shot, Belfour yielded. At that point, both teams were skating on fumes. The Red Wings, already deprived of Steve Yzerman, didn’t have Sergei Fedorov, either. He heard bells after being the meat in a Gerald Diduck sandwich. Earlier, another sniper, Ray Sheppard, had his senses rearranged.
But these Red Wings have elbows, too, and that’s why this rare series for Chicago television could be over the same week it began. Courtesy of ESPN, and according to league rules, the home game was shown in Chicago, where Hawks owner Dollar Bill Wirtz eschews such programming.
Loyal hockey fans and bandwagon jumpers alike were entertained until the very end, but it was the winning masked man, Mike Vernon, who offered the sincerest salve for his vanquished lodge brother.
“Beware the knuckleball,” he said. “That’s what beat Eddie. I don’t like to see them, either.”
Belfour is why the Hawks have lost all three assignments by only one goal. The power play was ready for prime time, Bernie Nicholls broke his 0-for-April and May famine, and Jeff Shantz tried something worth repeating. Shoot the puck even if conditions aren’t perfect. You never know.
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But this was Belfour’s show, to win or lose. Space does not permit a complete list of his robberies. Then again, he wouldn’t have had to be so terrific in the fourth period if the Hawks had finished better in the first. It took two thieves Tuesday night, and Vernon did his part.
For a while there, and regrettably so, referee Don Koharski lodged a serious bid to be leading man in what would become the late, late show. The Hawks and Red Wings engaged in two fairly tough but clean contests at Detroit, uncluttered by too many penalties.
Koharski, however, put an ebb to all this flow. Instead of letting the teams play, he made 13 calls inside the opening two periods.
These inconsistencies are what vex coaches and players, and it says here that the NHL should assign the same referee to an entire seven-game series. At least a pattern will be established, right? Well, maybe not. Koharski put away his whistle until a scrum at the conclusion of the fourth period. Strange.
So is Wirtz’s television policy, but at least it’s perpetual. He says he will not “give away” the product and thereby offend season ticket subscribers who pay dearly.
Dollar Bill has a point, although critics suggest it’s atop his head. Television is a tool of marketing, a term the Hawks confuse with setting up a souvenir shop on Michigan Avenue. But there’s more to selling hockey than selling T-shirts, and home TV doesn’t mean you can’t sell tickets too. Wirtz sold 22,709 Tuesday night.
As for the victorious Scotty Bowman, he has TV plans too. On Wednesday evening, hockey’s greatest living coach will watch more hockey. A baseball freak, Bowman had considered visiting Comiskey Park.
But Bowman instead will take in New Jersey and Philadelphia. He won’t say it, so we will. It’s called pre-scouting for the Stanley Cup finals.