Hull Happy Being Blues’ Set-Up Man

He’s a sniper to be sure, but there’s so much more to Brett Hull’s game than simply firing shots at goaltenders.

He’s here one minute, about to be suffocated by a defenseman, and then he’s gone in a flash. Just try to stop him.

The Mighty Ducks tried and failed Monday night at Anaheim Arena.

Hull scored one goal, an almost ordinary-looking shot from the high slot that beat goalie Guy Hebert 3 minutes 18 seconds into the game. Ordinary because it looked so easy, so natural.

He assisted on the other two, including Kevin Miller’s game-winner 1:10 into overtime.

Earlier, he set up a hard-charging Jim Montgomery with a perfect cross-ice pass on a two-on-one break.

When it was over, when the St. Louis Blues had rallied to defeat the Ducks, 3-2, in overtime, somebody pressed Hull about his role as a set-up man.

“You’re just as happy setting up goals as scoring them?” the reporter asked.

“Yeah,” Hull said. “Winning is all that matters, though.”

So Hull moves in a relentless blur across the ice, seeing open teammates and getting them the puck. He won the game for the Blues simply by giving up the puck.

You know he can score goals. No one with 31 goals in 45 games walks quietly into an opponent’s arena without notice taken.

But Hull worked his magic by feeding Montgomery and then Miller.

“There was a pass through center and I grabbed it,” Hull said of the Blues’ second goal. “Jimmy just went hard to the net.”

All Montgomery had to do was put his stick out. The puck glanced off his stick and into the net. Goal. And a 2-2 tie with almost 18 minutes left in regulation.

In overtime, Hull cruised through the Duck defense until he found Miller, who was too close to miss. Hebert, Hull’s former teammate, never had a chance.

Another goal and a St. Louis victory that wouldn’t have been possible without Hull.

So it’s winning that drives him, then?

The pursuit of excellence perhaps?

Both are highly likely, but Hull insisted Monday that it boils down to one human emotion: Fear.

Not from any outside source, mind you. It’s all from within, he said.

“The fear of never scoring again is what drives me,” he said. “I wake up with the fear of God in me every morning. That’s what motivates me.”