Penguins, Blackhawks Took Bumpy Roads to NHL Finals : Stanley Cup: Both teams have peaked in playoffs after failing to win division championships.

Both teams began the season after a summer of agony.

Both struggled through a winter of discontent.

Yet both are alive in the postseason and playing extremely well, hoping to conclude with a spring of salvation.

Their troubles apparently behind them, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks come into Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena tonight for the opening game of the 1992 best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals, powered by impressive streaks.

“Every good team is able to pick up its game for Showtime,” said Mario Lemieux of Pittsburgh.

Lemieux and company have put on a show. Pittsburgh swept the Boston Bruins in the Wales Conference finals, giving the Penguins seven consecutive playoff victories. Pittsburgh trailed the New York Rangers, 2-1, in the Patrick Division finals only to win the next three games.

But even that run pales before the Blackhawks, who have swept their last two series and won a league-record 11 consecutive postseason games. Chicago hasn’t lost since trailing the St. Louis Blues, 2-1, in their opening series.

After winning that matchup in six games, the Blackhawks swept the Detroit Red Wings in the Norris Division finals and the Edmonton Oilers in the Campbell Conference finals.

The result? Perhaps a classic confrontation between two teams playing at the top of their respective games.

But they are different games.

If this were a race, it could best be described as a thoroughbred against a plowhorse.

This is finesse against muscle, the irresistible force of an offensive machine led by Pittsburgh’s Lemieux, Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens and Jaromir Jagr against the immovable object that the Chicago defense, spearheaded by Chris Chelios, Steve Smith and goalie Ed Belfour, has become.

In sweeping Boston, Pittsburgh outscored the Bruins, 19-7. Chicago outscored Edmonton, 21-8.

There’s no question these are the league’s most dominating teams. But there were two big questions back when the season began.

Could the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins repeat?

Would the Blackhawks repeat their infamous flop in last season’s playoffs? Pittsburgh was facing an emotional crisis because of the death of their beloved coach, Bob Johnson, the man who led them to the Stanley Cup last spring. When Johnson was hospitalized with a brain tumor before the start of the season, his players were crushed.

But General Manager Craig Patrick couldn’t have had a better replacement already on the premises.

Scotty Bowman, director of player development, is the winningest coach in NHL historyand the man who led the Montreal Canadiens to five Stanley Cup championships in the 70s.

“I just went in there to keep things together,” Bowman said. “Craig wanted to keep thejob open. That would give (Johnson) hope he could come back.”

When Johnson died early in the season, Bowman stayed on, keeping the Penguins together through the long, complicated sale of the club, the agonizing players’ strike and yet another in a series of injuries to Lemieux.

It wasn’t easy.

At the beginning of March, with Pittsburgh only one game over .500 and struggling to gain a playoff spot, there were rumors of player discontent with Bowman. At 58, some said, he had lost his touch.

But after a meeting among players, led by Patrick, the Penguins went 11-5-1 to close out the regular season in third place, overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat the Washington Capitals in the opening round of the playoffs and then beat the Rangers, despite the loss of Lemieux in Game 2.

Slashed by Adam Graves, Lemieux suffered a broken left hand, an injury that was feared would end his season.

But the Penguins came back to beat the Rangers, and Lemieux came back in the second game of the Bruin series, wearing a cast on his left hand for protection.

With all his problems, Lemieux is still the NHL playoff leader with 11 goals and 27 points in only 11 games.

Close behind are teammates Francis (seven goals and 24 points in 17 games), Stevens (11 goals and 23 points in 17 games) and Jagr (nine goals and 22 points in 17 games), giving Pittsburgh four of the league’s top five scorers in the postseason.

The Blackhawks had their own obstacles to overcome this season.

They finished last year with 106 points, most in the NHL, only to suffer a humiliating, first-round loss to the Minnesota North Stars in the postseason. The North Stars’ total of 27 victories was the lowest of any playoff club.

But the only number that mattered in the postseason was penalty minutes. Taking one bad penalty after another, the frustrated Blackhawks watched their season come to a stunning finish from the penalty box.

It was a lesson well learned.

Although it failed to repeat as division champion, Chicago is still living up to its reputation as a tough, bruising force in the playoffs. But the Blackhawks are keeping that force within the bounds of the rules.

“Our feeling now is that if we get beat, we get beat,” Chelios said. “But we are not going to beat ourselves. If you take penalties, you don’t give yourself a chance. We realizethat now.

“By far, we are playing as well defensively as we’ve ever played since I’ve been here. As far as I’m concerned, it’s all discipline.”

Another key has been Belfour, who has a 12-1 record, a 2.2 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.

A Murderer’s Row of offensive talent against a defensive wall. Two streaking teams, two colliding philosophies.

But when it’s all over, only one winner.