CHICAGO -- Seldom has a first-place team been less favored in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs than the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks barely won the Norris Division, needing a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on the last day of the regular season to claim the crown. That triumph gave Chicago an opening round match-up with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who defeated Chicago in six out of eight games this season. The best-of-five series opens tonight in Chicago.
'It has to bother us a bit that Toronto played us better than any other team this season,' said Troy Murray, a 99-point scorer for Chicago. 'Toronto has some good goal scorers. Their problem is defense and lately they have been playing well defensively.'
The Maple Leafs claim that Chicago's style of play is an inspiration.
'Maybe it's just that Chicago wakes us up,' says Toronto's Rick Vaive. 'They're a physical team and when they bang us we start banging them. When we're banging we're usually playing our best hockey.'
'The Hawks are a physical, grinding team but that seems to bring out the best in us,' said Toronto coach Dan Maloney. 'We know it's going to be difficult because the Hawks are a good team who have the loudest fans in the league behind them. But at least we've showed that the atmosphere there didn't intimidate us.'
The Blackhawks were able to take the Norris Division by winning 11 of 13 games from Dec. 15 to Jan. 12. But from the first of March, Chicago has had only one two-game winning streak andwent 7-10 over the last 17 games.
'In the last 10 games, we just couldn't stand prosperity,' said Steve Ludzik. 'We seem to things the hard way.'
Coach Bob Pulford has not announced how he will use goalies Murray Bannerman and Bob Sauve, but he will probably continue to alternate them as he has since the first of the year. Sauve went 2-3 against Toronto with three consecutive losses and Bannerman was 0-3 against the Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs are in the playoffs for the first time in three years.
'No one has really seen what we can do in the playoffs,' said Russ Courtnall. 'Who knows what will happen? We don't know what to expect ourselves.'
