Thursday night’s agonizing loss to the St. Louis Blues may have been the Hawks’ most nightmarish finish of the season, but it’s not the only time they’ve lost a lead in the final minute of play.
“We’ve done that four or five times this year,” exclaimed Chris Chelios after the Blues had tied the Hawks with :00.6 remaining in regulation and gone on to win in overtime.
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In fact, it’s happened four times, beginning with a game here on Nov. 14 when Teemu Selanne’s goal with 15 seconds remaining tied the game and the Jets went on to win 6-5 in overtime.
On Dec. 21 Toronto’s Larry Murphy scored with 50 seconds left in a game that ended in a 3-3 tie. Then there was the infamous game against Detroit Jan. 27 when Nicklas Lidstrom’s goal with 18 seconds to play gave the Red Wings a 5-5 tie.
“This reminds me of that Detroit game,” said Tony Amonte, whose hat trick would have made him Thursday night’s hero had the outcome been different. “We were up 5-4 and the same thing happened. It’s just devastating. I think we’ll remember this one.”
Good riddance: Friday night’s game here was the last ever in Winnipeg Arena for the Blackhawks, barring an unlikely postseason matchup with the Jets. The Hawks are 11-18-4 lifetime and 0-2-1 this season.
Delayed arrival: As if they weren’t upset enough by the outcome of Thursday’s game, the Blackhawks did not arrive at their hotel here until nearly 4 a.m. Friday. Because of foul weather here, the Hawks’ charter flight was delayed more than two hours at O’Hare before being given permission to take off.
Get off my back: Defenseman Steve Smith has finally gotten his back up over repeated questions about his balky back. After skating for the first time in three days earlier this week, Smith spotted reporters approaching his locker room space and held up a cautioning hand. “Don’t ask me about my back,” he said. “I’ve got nothing to say about it. I’ll talk about anything else.”