For two weeks, the Chicago Blackhawks were too nice to their opponents. The result? Seven losses in eight games.
Monday night against the Florida Panthers, nice was replaced by nasty. And a losing habit was replaced by one of Chicago's most impressive victories this season."We were hungry," Blackhawks tough guy Jim Cummins said after the 8-4 win. "Everybody knew that we had to play with a little growl."
Nobody growled louder or hit harder than Cummins, who set the tone by taking on two Florida players in the opening minutes of a first period that featured 54 penalty minutes and three game misconducts.
In Monday's only other NHL game, the Canadiens closed out seven decades of history in the fabled Montreal Forum by beating the Dallas Stars 4-1. Hockey's most revered team moves into the new Molson Centre on Saturday.
The team's symbolic torch of excellence was passed one last time in the sport's shrine - from Emil "Butch" Bouchard to Maurice Richard to Jean Beliveau to Yvan Cournoyer to Henri Richard to Serge Savard to Bob Gainey to Guy Carbonneau and to current star Pierre Turgeon.
Canadiens 4, Stars 1
On an emotional night when they bid "au revoir" to the Montreal Forum, the game was secondary to the festivities.
In a postgame tribute to the great stars who played in the building that housed 24 Stanley Cup champions, the fans watched Maurice Richard stand at center ice, his eyes clouded with tears, and gave him an ovation that lasted nearly 10 minutes.
A galaxy of Hall of Famers from Canadiens' teams of yesteryear passed the torch to today's players, who had little trouble with Dallas.