European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday May 26, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 21stanley cup finals steamroller collide at Center ice by Joe Lapointe the new York times after a promising Start the Stanley cup playoffs have been losing momentum. But they May enjoy a Strong finish when two powerful streaking teams a the defending Champion Pittsburgh penguins and the Chicago Blackhawk a meet in the final round which begins tonight in Pittsburgh. The Blackhawk have won 11 consecutive playoff games an nil record and the penguins have won seven in a Row. Black Hawks Best player is a rising Star Jeremy Roenick while Pittsburgh a biggest gun is Mario Lemieux the Best player in the game who has dazzled recently with a series of spectacular goals. A a he a the Best hockey player in the world right now a said Dave Poulin of the Boston Bruins who were eliminated by. The penguins on saturday night. A a it a almost scary to think that he can look like he a toying with you and that he can turn it on at any  Lemieux who missed six playoff games with a broken Bone in his left hand nevertheless leads All play off scorers with 27 Points on 11 goals and 16 assists in 11 games. His Best moment saturday perhaps one of the Best goals of his eight year career came while killing a penalty in what eventually became a 5-1 Pittsburgh Victory to wrap up the four game sweep of the Wales conference finals. It was the first of his two goals in the game and it thoroughly demoralized the Bruins. Lemieux stole the puck in his own end raced up the Center of the ice mane Vered past Adam Oates and around Ray Bourque and then beat goalie Andy Moog with a rising wrist shot just under the crossbar. Oates Bourque and Moog Are Bostons Best three players. Lemieux with a still sore hand beat them single hand edly. A when i got the puck i did no to know what to do a Lemieux said. A Ray was right in front of me and i just put the puck in his feet to get his attention a Little  the Bruins were badly Over matched. At times the penguins made extra passes on rushes to try to slam Dunk the puck from close Range. Few of their goals in the series were on rebounds or scrambles or tip ins. They probably will have a More difficult time against Chicago which tries to hem an opponent in with Force hacking in their attack zone. A they Are a physical team they arc playing smart and they Are a dangerous club a said Pittsburgh a Rick Tocchet who used to play for Chicago coach Mike Keenan when both were with Philadelphia. A they Are going to have Brent Sutter against Mario. They Arentt going to turn away from him when he makes a pass. They Are going to hit Mario. But Mario is a pretty shifty Guy and it will be Tough to hit  after the first two games on tuesday and thursday in Pittsburgh a civic Arena the series moves to Chicago stadium for games 3 and 4 on saturday and monday. There the penguins will find a Small ice surface and acoustics that often intimidate visitors a i think everybody likes playing there a Tocchet said a because even if you Arentt ready to play that building gets you ready to play. Obviously you hate playing there because it is a Tough building but Guys enjoy it on a competitive  in a nutshell by John Kreiser the associated press nearly eight months after it started the Chase for the Stanley cup is Down to the two finalists. Here show they match up season records Pittsburgh 39-32-9 Chicago 36-29-15. Season series penguins 1-0-1 0-0-1 at Pittsburgh 1-0-0 at Chicago. Playoff history Chicago leads 1-0. Last meeting 1972, Chicago won quarterfinal series 4-0. How they got there a Pittsburgh overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat Washington then rallied from a 2-1 deficit to Knock off the new York rangers in six games to take the Patrick division title before sweeping Boston to take the Wales conference Crown. Chicago beat St. Louis in six games and swept Detroit in four to win the Norris division then swept Edmonton to take the Campbell conference. Penguins Outlook a Pittsburgh did everything right in sweeping Bruins. C Mario Lemieux showed no effects from the broken hand that kept him out for six games. Re Jaromir jagr has stepped up his play and looks like a left handed Lemieux and c Ron Francis Law Kevin Stevens and re Rick Tocchet add to plentiful firepower. G Tom Barrasso who excelled in last years playoffs is Sharp again though he Wasny to tested severely by Boston. Credit coach Scotty Bowman for keeping the penguins focused and getting them to play defense. The less hitting in the series the More Likely the penguins will win it. Black Hawks Outlook Blackhawk take nil record 11-game winning Streak into their first visit to the finals since 1973 thanks to a Superb two Way Effort against the out manned oilers. G de Belfour has never been better Chris Chelios led a defensive corps that has been the Best in the playoffs and c Jeremy Roenick has sparked an opportunistic offence. To beat the speedier penguins Blackhawk will have to do the same thing they did in the first three rounds a hit hard often and cleanly plus Excel at penalty killing 19-for-19 against Edmonton. Injuries a Pittsburgh is without re Joe Mullen a 42-goal scorer who a out after knee surgery and d Peter Taglianetti Back. Law Bob erred Hasni to played since separating a shoulder in the Patrick division finals. Chicago d Keith Brown injured his shoulder in the clincher against Edmonton. By the numbers a the penguins took a league Low 33 fighting majors during the regular season. That a one less than Chicago defens eman Mike Peluso took All by himself. In the playoffs though the Blackhawk have Only two fighting majors both in the first round by Brian Marchment. Intangible a Pittsburgh coach Scotty Bowman is trying to become Only the second coach to win As Many As six cups toe Blake leads with eight and just the third Man to coach nil champions with More than one franchise. The others Dick Irvin Toronto and Montreal and Lester Patrick Victoria and the new York rangers. Prediction a these May not be the two Best teams in hockey but they re definitely the two teams that Are playing the Best hockey. Chicago has been perfect since losing game 3 of the opening round but the penguins have the added incentive of trying to repeat. That and Lemieux is enough. Pittsburgh in 7. Mario Lemieux is drawing raves while trying to hoist another Stanley cup. Apfl to Breaks leg in . Games Long jumper Starks new York a olympic Gold medallists Jackie Joyner Kersee Carl Lewis and said Wouita scored victories sunday in the wind plagued new York games a meet marred when Llewellyn Starks broke a leg in the Long jump. Starks 25, of Jonesboro la., the worlds fourth ranked Long jumper suffered a compound fracture of the Tibia and a simple fracture of the Tibia on his Takeoff during his third attempt. While Starks injury overshadowed the Competition there were some notable performances. Lewis in his first Long jump performance of the outdoor season won at a wind aided 28 feet la i inches. Winds gusted to about 40 Mph during the meet. Lewis second Best performance 28-1, was the longest Legal jump in the world this year. Joyner Kersee the 1988 olympic Gold medallist in the women a Long jump and heptathlon and the 1987 world Champion in both events continued her preparation for the trials by winning two events. She took Only one attempt in winning the Long jump at 23-61/4, the Best by an american this year and the second Best in the world. Then she won the 100-meter hurdles in 13.16 seconds. Joyner Kersee said that after her Only try in the Long jump she asked the officials to allow the competitors to jump into a pit facing the opposite direction because of the wind. They refused. In addition to the difficulties for the jumpers because of the wind the runners generally ran into the wind. Wouita the moroccan who holds five world records in Middle distance events also complained about the wind after rallying to nip John Trautmann in the mile in a relatively slow 3 58.20. A it was so Windy we can to run fast a a said Wouita whose Best mile time is 3 46.76. Wouita was surprised to see the unheralded Trautmann in the Lead coming Down the final Straightaway. A i did no to know his name a Wouita said. A i had to give All my Power in the last 50 meters to beat