blues shutout hawks again lead series blues shutout hawks again lead series it was a great atmosphere last night at the st louis arena as joseph and the blues shutout the hawks for the second consecutive game people were cheering the blues long before face off time and they kept going for the entire game my friends and i went out celebrating until the early morning hours with some of the players here s a game summary from the st louis post disptach enjoy by dave luecking of the post dispatch staff at p m friday night the arena crowd of paid homage to blues goalie curtis joseph the fans began bowing their arms extended taking the the lead from a fan who held a sign that read only god saves more than joseph it was a fitting tribute to joseph who has brought the blues to the verge of a surprising sweep joseph recorded his second successive shutout friday blanking the blackhawks in game of the norris division semifinals and giving the blues a lead in the best of seven series the blackhawks haven t scored against joseph since the mark of the second period of game joseph has shut out the blackhawks for minutes seconds a blues record jacques plante held the previous record of set in the first round of the playoffs against the philadelphia flyers one of only two series the blues have sweeped in their history the blues can wrap up their first sweep since with a victory in game a nationally televised game that begins at noon sunday the blues have had only two sweeps in franchise history both in when they swept philadelphia and los angeles en route to the stanley cup finals the shutout friday was easier than on wednesday in game when joseph had to make saves this time the blues held the shots down to and the blackhawks couldn t touch joseph well they touched joseph numerous times shoving him and pushing him at every opportunity to try to get him off his game but joseph and the blues were unfazed dishing out their own punishment along the way the blues grinders bob bassen rich sutter kevin miller and dave lowry wore down the blackhawks taking the visitors from chicago off their game the grinders set the stage for the glamour boys the gifted playmakers and scorers who made the most of their opportunities craig janney brett hull and nelson emerson scored getting one goal in each period hull assisted on janney s first period power play goal after two unwise chicago penalties checker miller set up hull s goal in the second period and rookie denny felsner assisted for emerson who scored at of the final period blues fans jumped to their feet in celebration of that goal and began yelling sweep sweep sweep they also taunted chicago goalie ed belfour bell four bell four they also chanted na na na na hey hey good bye such talk is a tad premature there s still one game left but the blues are on a roll they have the blackhawks on their heels the blues set the tone early on friday with two crunching hits in the first minute of play rich sutter leveled bryan marchment and brendan shanahan dumped steve smith at center ice chicago tried to retaliate but troy murray s decision to run into joseph backfired referee dan marouelli gave him a roughing penalty the blues didn t get a shot on goal on the power play and they survived a scare after chicago killed the penalty when rick zombo gave the puck away to steve larmer joseph stopped larmer s shot and everything else chicago threw at him in the first period the hawks ignored the scouting report on joseph about shooting high and continued to shoot low where joseph s butterfly style is deadly rookie bret hedican picked up three consecutive penalties midway through the period two for hooking and one for holding but chicago got only two shots on goal as many as miller the blues penalty killer twice stole the puck and just missed on good scoring chances against belfour marouelli began calling penalties on the blackhawks to even things up he caught brent sutter hooking shanahan four seconds after hedican s third penalty he called marchment for elbowing janney along the boards at and gave the blues a two man advantage later when christian ruuttu slashed shanahan the blues worked around the puck on the ensuing power play and hull got it where he likes it in the high slot hull s shot hit belfour s right shoulder and the puck bounced precariously close to the goal line belfour dived back to cover but the puck squirted loose to janney who poked it into the net at for his first goal of the playoffs the blues continued their relentless hitting as the period ended and the blackhawks lost their composure joe murphy tripped ron wilson with two seconds remaining in the period and after time had expired smith upset the blues by shooting the puck into the blues bench chris chelios made a move toward joseph as the teams left the ice and marouelli slapped him with a minute misconduct chicago survived the blues power play but the loss of chelios hurt he didn t return until the midway point of the period and within three minutes of his return hull had increased the blues lead to deflecting in miller s crisp pass try as they might the blackhawks couldn t get to joseph who stopped everything they could throw at him he stopped shots in the second period and more in the third chicago also hit the goalpost twice emerson s goal put the game away he went hard to the net and redirected felsner s pass a l l e z l e s b l u e s joe ashkar contact for the blues saint louis jca cec wustl edu blues
