Swept Away

Incited by tough forward Rick Tocchet, who came over from Philadelphia in a late-season trade, the Penguins began giving as much as they got from the physical Hawks. "We're not the most aggressive team in the world, but we do play aggressively when we have to," Tocchet said after Pittsburgh had taken a 2-0 lead over the I lawks. "We're just as big and strong as they are, and it's not the worst thing in the world to take a hit."

Poor Chicago. Everything was going according to plan, yet nothing was working. The Blackhawks were winning the battles along the boards but losing the war. Surely things would get better for General Keenan back on home ice. But Game 3 in Chicago turned into a defensive struggle that no amount of strategy could control. In a game like that, somebody's going to come up with the big saves. It turned out to be Pittsburgh's Barrasso. Somebody is going to win every big face-off. That was Pittsburgh's Ron Francis. Somebody is going to find a way to score, even if it is on a fluke goal that deflects in off at least three players. That was the deep, supremely confident Penguins, who got just such a goal from Stevens. Somebody is going to find a way to lose. That was...well, you know.

Trailing 1-0 with less than a minute left in that critical third game, Keenan pulled Belfour to go with six attackers. Seconds later, Pittsburgh's Larry Murphy goaded Chicago's Chris Chelios into retaliating for a surreptitious Murphy cross-check with a spear and a flurry of punches. Bye-bye, Chelios. Bye-bye, man advantage. Bye-bye, game. Bye-bye. Blackhawks.

Hello, dynasty.