Detroit coach Scotty Bowman was very aware that Sunday night’s game with the Blackhawks would be the teams’ last meeting until April 10, and he wanted to exploit the opportunity to pad the Red Wings’ lead over their closest competitor in the Western Conference.
“Before the game we talked about the Hawks being so strong against us, and how we don’t play them again until the third-to-last game in the season,” said the Hall of Fame coach after his team’s 5-0 victory. “I considered it a big game.”
In winning their third straight game after their first major slump of the season (1-5-1), the Red Wings increased their lead over the Hawks to nine points.
In encounters earlier this season, the Hawks defeated Detroit 5-4 at the United Center on Nov. 4, skated to a 4-4 tie at Joe Louis Arena on Nov. 25 and won 2-0 in Detroit last Monday.
“They did to us what we did to them,” said Hawks coach Brian Sutter. “We were fine the first eight or 10 minutes. Then we gave them opportunities and their best players were their best players. Dominik Hasek deserved the shutout. He made some big plays.
“That’s going to happen. I’m going to try my darnedest to enjoy Christmas. But I won’t enjoy it as much as if we had won.”
Captain’s comments: “It was pretty disappointing, but it’s only one game,” said Hawks captain Tony Amonte.
“Dominik seemed to take over the game right away. When the score was 1-0 and 2-0 he made some big stops. We didn’t get the puck in and we never established our forecheck.”
Biggest gate: The crowd of 22,158 exceeded by 1,169 the Nov. 4 attendance that had been the season’s biggest turnout at the United Center. As was the case that night, Red Wings fans were a strong vocal minority Sunday.
Olympic smorgasbord: The Red Wings showcased nine players who’ll be representing five countries in the 2002 Olympics.
Hasek will try to lead the Czech Republic to its second straight gold medal and center Sergei Fedorov will be back on the Russian team that earned the silver medal in 1998.
Defenseman Chris Chelios and right wing Brett Hull will be skating for the U.S., center Steve Yzerman and right wing Brendan Shanahan will be playing for Canada, and defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Fredrik Olausson and left wing Tomas Holmstrom will be part of the Swedish delegation.
While Hasek was en route to his 59th career shutout, several of the other Olympians were making waves on offense. Shanahan and Hull each collected a goal and an assist, Chelios added a goal, Holmstrom and Yzerman each contributed two assists and Fedorov had an assist.
History lesson: Sunday’s game was the Hawks’ 661st meeting with their oldest rivals. The Red Wings have a 329-247-83-2 edge.
Another year: Sunday was the 46th birthday of Pat Foley, voice of the Hawks on WSCR-AM and Fox Sports Net. This is Foley’s 22nd year as the team’s play-by-play announcer.
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