Blues' Sutter Hungering For Revenge

ST. LOUIS There is vengeance in the Blues' bones, St. Louis wingerRich Sutter said Friday, confirming a feeling Blackhawks defensemanSteve Smith has expressed.

"I wouldn't call it hatred. But I've been here four years, andI think we've lost enough to these guys," Sutter said, recalling howSt. Louis blew 2-1 leads in playoff series against the Hawks in 1990and 1992. "This is the first time I've actually felt that way towardanother hockey team."

Sutter, who was a big part of St. Louis' sweep of the first twogames in Chicago, said he likes the expanded role the Blues' grindersare enjoying. While scorers such as Brett Hull and Craig Janney havebeen sitting, checkers such as Sutter, Bob Bassen and Ron Wilson havebeen frustrating the Hawks.

"You want the pressure," Sutter said. "You're a lot more tiredthe next morning, but I don't mind it at all.

"This time of year, you want to be in the middle of it all."

BLUE IN FACE: Jeremy Roenick said he doesn't need any extraincentive to hate the Blues.

"I've always hated this team, ever since I lost my teeth thattime in my first year," Roenick said, referring to a high stick byGlen Featherstone that rearranged Roenick's teeth in the 1989playoffs.

"We have to make them feel pain," Roenick said. "And to dothat, you do have to hate them. I like playing against them. But Ihate them, too.

"Anybody who doesn't have that feeling of vengeance shouldn'tbe in our locker room. Because if you don't, you don't have prideand determination. And there's not one guy in our locker room whodoesn't have that feeling."

EYE ON ZOMBO: After the Hawks showed him a tape, John D'Amico,the supervisor of officials for this series, promised to advise hisreferees to keep an eye on Blues defenseman Rick Zombo.

The Hawks were upset with what they considered cross-checkingand slashing by Zombo on Brent Sutter in the slot during athird-period Hawks power play in Game 2. The Hawks thought theydeserved a five-on-three.

"You expect to take a pounding in front of the net," Hawks coachDarryl Sutter.

"But it can't be an infraction. What Zombo has been doing isdangerous."

MATTEAU OUT: Dave Christian replaced Stephane Matteau in thelineup Friday, the Hawks' only lineup change. Christian, who waspicked up from St. Louis in the waiver draft last October, has beenscratched for 19 of the Hawks' last 23 games, including the first twogames of this playoff series.