Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.sports From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Blues, Hawks sliding from top Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 16:16:30 EST Message-ID: \SE C;SPORTS;NHL REPORT;NOTEBOOK \HD Blues, Hawks sliding from top \BY David Elfin \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES It may be hard to believe by looking at the Norris Division standings, but just two seasons ago the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues were the NHL's two best teams. Chicago allowed fewer goals than any team in 11 years. St. Louis sniper Brett Hull scored more goals than anyone ever had - except Wayne Gretzky. Mike Keenan was in command as Chicago's coach/general manager and Brian Sutter, the Blues' captain from 1979-88, had been coaching the team ever since. Even though both teams were shockingly knocked out of the playoffs by Minnesota, their futures seemed bright. Chicago star Jeremy Roenick was just 21. Hull was 26. The Blackhawks turned around a sluggish 1991-92 season by reaching their first Stanley Cup final since 1973, eliminating the Blues in the first round along the way. That loss cost Sutter his job, but Chicago's success helped brother Darryl, the Blackhawks' captain from 1982-87, get his dream job as their coach. With Sutter being wooed by several teams, Keenan had to promote his assistant or lose him. So far neither move has paid off. The Blues were just 5-6-1 before playing at Tampa Bay last night and Brian Sutter's replacement, Bob Plager, quit after just 11 games because he couldn't take the pressure. Hull had only five goals after enduring a five-game drought, the longest of his four-plus seasons in St. Louis. "It was a shock when Bob quit right after we beat Pittsburgh [last Thursday], but you could see he was having some problems coping with the job," said Blues right wing Rich Sutter, who admitted that it was tough for him and brother Ron, a center, to come back to a team that had fired Brian. "We've made a lot of changes and a lot of guys are playing hurt. We haven't been prepared to win every night. There have been gaps between the forwards and the defensemen that shouldn't be there. The team defense just hasn't been real good." There had been speculation that Hull's assumption of the captaincy had led him to put too much pressure on himself. Hence the slump. "It hasn't been Hullie's fault," Sutter said in disagreement. "He hit a lot of goal posts and he's been playing with a rookie center [Igor Korolev] and a bunch of left wings. He's going to be fine." The Blackhawks were just 4-5-3 and ranked 11th in goals allowed before facing Washington last night in Indianapolis. Chicago has been without center Brent Sutter (yes, another brother) and defenseman Keith Brown all season and has had to plug the holes with kids. That's also meant more ice time for Roenick and defensemen Chris Chelios and Steve Smith. "We may be 2-0-2 [of late], but we're still sputtering," Darryl Sutter said. "You don't know how important guys like Brent and Brownie are until they're not there. Training camp wasn't great what with going to London for a week [for games against Montreal] and [captain] Dirk [Graham] holding out. And [goalie] Eddie [Belfour] didn't get his contract resolved until last week and that was a distraction. "Our top guys haven't been playing that well. I wanted to cut Smitty and Chelly's ice time back, but with Brownie and [defenseman Igor] Kravchuk out, they're both playing upwards of 30 minutes a night. It's good for the kids to get to play, but we haven't been the team we were in the playoffs last year." Darryl did win 3-2 last Saturday in Boston in his first coaching duel with Brian, who was hired in June and has the Bruins off to a 7-2-1 start despite the continued absence of top goal-scorer Cam Neely. Trivia time - With Sunday's trade of Paul Cavallini to Washington, which current Blue has been with the club the longest? Penguin power - Pittsburgh, 8-0-2 before losing to the Blues, was just six games shy of breaking Edmonton's NHL record for the longest unbeaten streak at the start of a season. Dating back to last year's playoffs, the Penguins were 19-0-2. All but three of those victories had come since both Pittsburgh newspapers went on strike. Coincidence? Mario Lemieux had his 12-game scoring streak snapped last night by the New York Islanders. The NHL record is 16 games, set by Ottawa's Harry Broadbent in 1921-22. Milestones - Detroit's Steve Yzerman and John Ogrodnick are three goals shy of becoming the 40th and 41st members of the 400-goal club. Boston's Andy Moog needs three victories to become the 20th goalie with 250. Montreal's Patrick Roy just became the 37th goalie to win 200. Calgary's Mike Vernon (197) and Los Angeles' Kelly Hrudey (194) aren't far behind. Buffalo's Dale Hawerchuk is three assists shy of becoming the 23rd player with 700. Trivia answer - Hull, who was acquired from Calgary on March 7, 1988, played in his 335th game for St. Louis last night. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM