Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Common Denominator

"Played goalie for Chicago in the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals, Faced Off in the 1999 Grand Finale Of Hockey!"

That would be Dominik Hasek and Ed Belfour. Both the property of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1991/92 and both with huge careers ahead of them. Chicago parted ways with both of them within five seasons.

But it was Belfour was in goal as Chicago took on the defending Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins. Chicago looked like they had the opener. The might have have been the underdogs, but they came to Pittsburgh looking for at least a split.

Up 4-1 at one point in the first game, it looked very likely. But then the Pens came storming back. It was looking up for the Hawks. Mario Lemieux and co. didn't roll over. They stormed back to make it 4-3. Here's where young Jaromir Jagr stepped up.

Taking the puck along the left boards, the Czech stormed towards the from of the net, eluding several Hawks. A fine backhand dented the twine! The game was tied at four. His big brother Mario scored the winner with the clock ticking down. 12.6 seconds were left. Chicago, if you can believe it, swarmed into the Pittsburgh zone and nearly tied it at five. Quite an opening act!


Pittsburgh's goalie, Tom Barasso, more so than Lemieux and Jagr, then turned in a pair of gems in games two and three. He made sure Chicago didn't get the lead in either game. 3-1 was the final in the second contest. In Chicago for game three, it was the Hawks firing blanks all night long on Barasso. Kevin Stevens scored the only goal of the game in the first period. Barasso stopped all 27 shots that came his way.

Tommy wasn't so good in game four. Neither was Belfour. Jagr scored just 1:37 in. Even after Chicago tied it at 6:21, it stayed that way for just 12 seconds. Another goal by Stevens finished Belfour. Dominik Hasek came in. The Hawks managed to get out of the period tied at 3-3 as neither team could miss.

The teams' traded goals in the second period as it was 4-4 after 40. But in the third, the Pens broke the game open with a pair of goals from Larry Murphy and Ron Francis. Chicago could come back with only a Jeremy Roenick tally. The 6-5 win by the Penguins gave them a sweep.

And then, seven years later, it was the Dallas Stars with Belfour in net. And the Buffalo Sabers. With Hasek in net. Competing on the grand stage.

Hasek was dazzling in the first game in Dallas. He turned aside 35 of 37 shots on goal in a 3-2 Buffalo win. But Dallas got it back with a 4-2 win in the next game.

In Buffalo for game three, it was the Stars with a 2-1 win as Joe Nieuwendyk scored a pair of goals to erase a 1-0 Sabers' lead. But Buffalo wasn't about to fall behind 3-1 in the series as they got a 2-1 win of their own in the fourth encounter. Hasek, again. Stopped 30 shots on goal. Only Jere Lehtinen's first period goal got by him. Stanley Cup tied two games apiece.

So it was down to a best-of-three games. In game five back at Dallas, the Stars aligned for Ed Belfour. Flicking aside all 23 shots that came his way, and aided by goals from Darryl Sydor and Pat Verbeek, he got the shutout. The 2-0 win sent the series to Buffalo, which Dallas needing only one more win.

They got it on Brett Hull's controversial goal in the third overtime of a 1-1 game. Whether or not he had control of the puck in the crease is still a hot topic in the hockey world. However, the goal stood, and Dallas had the Stanley Cup. Belfour had beaten Hasek to that.

But the Dominator got his moment in 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings (And again in 2008). When they lost to Pittsburgh in 1992, it was a sweep, but so close you had to say heart-breaking. Time made it all possible for Belfour and Hasek to go their separate ways and win Stanley Cups.


"The information used herein was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by The Hockey Summary Project. For more information about the Hockey Summary Project please visit:

http://hsp.flyershistory.com

or

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/hockey_summary_project/"


References

Diamond, Dan. Total NHL. Toronto: Dan Diamond And Associates, 2003. Print.

Diamond, Dan. Total Stanley Cup: An Official Publication Of The National Hockey League. Toronto: Published in Canada by Total Sports Canada, 2000. Print.

Weekes, Don, and Kerry Banks. Hockey's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Goals. Vancouver: Greystone, 2010. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.

"Hockey Summary Project." Hockey Summary Project. 10 Jan. 2001. Web. 10 Feb. 2016. <http://hsp.flyershistory.com/>

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