ROUND TWO, GAME ONE
Well it was not going to be pretty for either team in the second
round. The Colorado Avalanche and the Red Wings are the hottest
rivalry in the National Hockey League. Any playoff game between
these two teams was sure to have its up and downs. Game one in
Colorado was no different than expected. Chippy play on both ends
of the ice ignited tensions between the two.
The most please surprise was that of goaltender Bill Ranford who
stopped 37 shots as the Red Wings won 3 to 2 in overtime to take
the first game. Grind Line forward Kirk Maltby scored 4:18 into
overtime to get the win.
Ranford started in goal in place of the injured Chris Osgood who was
out with a sprained right knee. Maltby, stationed himself in the
overtime period just right of the goal, took a pass from teammate
Kris Draper behind the net and put it past Patrick Roy. It was the
Wings fifth playoff win in a row.
"I learned this morning," Ranford said of coach Scotty Bowman's
decision to give him the start. "Ozzie is doing better every day,
but they decided to give him a couple more days of rest. When you
haven't played for three-plus weeks, I tried not to get too wound
up in the game early on. I got my feet underneath me as the game
went on. The fatigue factor was a big concern, but I just tried to
shut that out." "Billy was great," said Bowman, "Our guys have a
lot of confidence in him." At least that was the case in the first
two games.
Avalanche coach Bob Hartley was upset that similar five minute
boarding penalties against Forsberg and Detroit's Darren McCarty
resulted in an ejection of Forsberg, but not McCarty. Jim Gregory,
NHL vice president of hockey operations, said the rules state that
an act of boarding that results in an injury to the face or head;
such as Forsberg's hit on Shanahan which cut him open, demands an
ejection. On McCarty's hit on Claude Lemieux, however, there was
no apparent face or head injury. Forsberg was unavailable for
comment after the game.
The Avalanche took a 2-1 lead after the Wings scored first. After
gaining a 5-on-3 advantage for 22 seconds Steve Yzerman chipped in
a shot from just left of the net at 3:54. But Theo Fleury tied it
on a power play at 10:51, taking a rebound and bouncing the puck
off the post from just right of the net. Less than two minutes
later, Colorado's Adam Deadmarsh, fighting off Chris Chelios
inside the right circle, redirected a shot from the point by Foote
for a go ahead goal at 12:34.
The Wings made it 2-2 in the second period when Slava Kozlov punched
in a rebound of a shot from the right circle by Sergei Fedorov on a
power play.
GAME TWO
Celebrating his 34th birthday, Captain Steve Yzerman lit two candles
so to speak as the Red Wings won game two over the Avs 4-0. Yzerman
scored two goals and Bill Ranford gained his fourth career playoff
shutout in the win. With the win the Wings take a two game to none
lead in the best of seven series. "I have spent better birthdays,"
Yzerman said ,"but I won't tell you what happened. It wasn't with a
bunch of sports reporters."
In a game featuring the sort of fierce tough hitting that has come
to define this rivalry, the Red Wings stayed unbeaten in these
playoffs. They registered their sixth straight playoff victory and
11th straight since last year's postseason Cup run.
Yzerman, scored in each of the first two periods, giving him eight
goals in the playoffs to equal a career high. Nicklas Lidstrom and
Wendel Clark added power play goals in the final period.
Billy Ranford had 28 saves in the shutout win. Ranford insisted he
was lucky in the game. "The guys played unbelievably in front of
me. There were times when I didn't see the puck, and they were able
to block it out for me. That first power play goal we got in the
third period took the wind out of their sails."
Colorado had 32 minutes in penalties compared to Detroit's 16.
Colorado is 1- 4 at home in the playoffs this season but 3-0 on
the road.
GAME THREE
The charm wore off for goaltender Bill Ranford and suddenly the Red
Wings aren't invincible any more. He let in five of the first 23
shots they he faced at the Avalanche continued their playoff
success on the road with a 5-3 victory in game three of round two.
"I'm just disappointed," Ranford said. "But, you play this game 27
years and I guess you expect nights like this once in a while."
With recently released POW Christopher Stone watching from the box
of Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, the Avalanche also got goals from
Claude Lemieux, Theo Fleury, Dale Hunter and rookie Chris Drury.
Steve Yzerman, Tomas Holmstrom and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored for the
Red Wings in the defeat. Head coach Scotty Bowman wouldn't say who
might be in goal for Game 4, but it's likely to be Ranford again.
Chris Osgood was not ready to play. "We haven't even thought about
that," Bowman said. "He hasn't been on the ice since Sunday
morning. He got better, then he kind of leveled off."
The Avalanche took the lead on Fleury's fifth goal, with 3:01 left
in the first. And that was all she wrote, They then blew it open
with three goals in the first 5:05 of the second period and Norm
Maracle replaced Ranford.
"We finally got a couple rebounds by crashing the net," Avalanche
star center Peter Forsberg said. "They really didn't give us much
ice to work with until it got to be 5-1, but we did a good job of
going to the net."
Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy made 44 saves. The Red Wings outshot
Colorado 47-36, thanks to a 21-5 edge in the third. Igor Larionov did
not play because of a dislocated finger. Brent Gilchrist took his
place in the lineup. The last two games were Fedorov's to shine and
he did not.
GAME FOUR
Three peat? Well the thoughts of that have to be put on hold as the
Avs tied up the series with a commanding 6-2 victory. The Wings
basically looked pathetic. The neutral zone trap deployed by the
Avalanche minimized any effort the Wings could muster. Patrick Roy
made 31 shots in the win.
"Tonight was a lot easier for me, that's for sure," Roy said. "Our
defense did a great job, even though they outshot us. I thought we
were fantastic tonight. We played well in every part of the game.
"I don't think we've changed much from the first two games. We are
just playing better hockey." The Wings on the other hand could
have possible turned in one of their worst performances of the
season.
Bill Ranford failed to make it through the second period for the
second straight game. Ranford let three of the first 14 shots he
faced get past him. He was replaced by Norm Maracle at 14:04 of
the second.
"I don't ever recall being pulled two games in a row," said
Ranford, "But, you can't worry about the goalie."
He really didnt have any support in this game. "They told me it
wasn't so much me," Ranford said. "They felt we were flat, and
maybe that would give us a jump start."
Slava Kozlov scored twice for the Red Wings late in the game.
The so called faithful in Joe Louis Arena were booing by the end of
the period. "When you're that many goals behind, it seems like
you're skating in quicksand," Brendan Shanahan said.
The Wings lineup remained the same with Jamie Macoun and Todd Gill
being a healthy scratch. Stacey Roest isnt playing either. The
Wings are playing frustrated not getting the breaks and the bounces
to go their way. Not to take anything away from Colorado, but the
Red Wings are playing flat for whatever reason and they need to
improve or it is golf time.
GAME FIVE
Patrick Roy recorded his 12th career playoff shutout, as the
Avalanche beat the Red Wings 3-0 and all but secured the playoff
round win. The Avalanche, won their third straight game in the
series after losing the first two at home to the defending Stanley
Cup Champions.
Goalie Chris Osgood, who missed the first four games with a sprained
right knee, returned to the net and had 23 saves. But he was
noticeably favoring his injured right leg during the game.
"It was a pretty frustrating game," Head Coach Scotty Bowman said.
"We generated some chances. But we missed the net, I think it was
15 times by the end of the second period. Maybe we were trying to
pick corners. That happens sometimes." Martin Lapointe said,
"We're not dead yet. Obviously, our back is against the wall.
We've done it before. We've just got to play with more
desperation."
The Wings lost defenseman Ulf Samuelsson early in the first period
with what was announced as a groin injury. He did not return.
Bowman wasn't confident of getting Samuelsson back for Game 6.
Jamie Macoun was slotted to play in the next game in his absence.
The game was not pretty and things look very bleak for the Red Wings
who are not playing with any confidence or consistency.
GAME SIX
It's all over now. The Detroit Red Wings will not three peat as
Stanley Cup Champions. Losing at home 5-2 in game six at home was
really a devastating blow to end it all. Peter Forsberg scored
twice and Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy continued his great play
as the Avalanche advanced to the Conference finals.
"It's not that we didn't play well," said Steve Yzerman, "We just
couldn't score goals. It was just so frustrating."
But the Wings did not play well defensively in the series.
Milan Hejduk, Chris Drury and Joe Sakic also scored for Colorado.
Finally Nicklas Lidstrom and Darren McCarty scored for the Red
Wings.
"It was a tough game and we gave it everything we had," said coach
Scotty Bowman, "We came back, but a couple plays here and there
hurt us. "But, overall, when you lose four straight like we did
..." and his voice trailed off.
Chris Osgood had 26 saves for the Red Wings, but allowed some soft
goals again in the loss.
"To win four straight against Detroit, I never thought we had a
chance," Roy said. "But we had no choice. We put ourselves in a
really bad position, losing those two games in Colorado. Winning
three games in Detroit, it's not every team that can do that."
The Red Wings, on the brink of elimination for the first time in
three years, seemed tight during the first period. None of their 11
shots gave Roy much trouble. Still, the Red Wings managed for a
spell to bring the crowd back to life with two goals in a 29 second
span late in the period. Lidstrom scored on a power play at 17:24,
ending a scoreless streak of 98:07. McCarty made it 4- 2 with his
first goal of these playoffs at 17:53 with a deflection.
Forsberg scored an unassisted goal with 6:29 remaining, and that was
all she wrote.
NO, THEY WEREN'T READY
Its hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong. It is one thing to
lose a series, it is another to not show up and play. Leading the
series two games to none and looking invincible then totally
collapsing is hard to swallow if you are a Hockeytown resident.
What happened will be the question of the day for many years to
come? Was it the fact that the new players were not given enough
time to gell within the system? Was it age finally showing? Can the
genius of Bowman be questioned for going with two young defenseman
instead of the proven veterans? Were the line combinations that
much out of sync with the loss of Larionov? Was the addition of
Kamensky to the Avs lineup that much more of inspiration? There can
be nothing at all taken away from the Avalanche in this series.
They capitalized on every chance they were given. They had great
goaltending and their role players came through. Their
explosiveness was something truly to behold. The Red Wings role
players were non existent. Did age finally show on this team?
Where was the magic from 97 and 98 from the Grind Line? Were was
the goals from Wendel Clark? Where in the world was that overpriced
superstar Sergei Fedorov? He totally disappeared. Steve Yzerman
alone was the only one who showed up to play as usual. The Wings
do not have a goalie that alone can win games on a consistent
basis. Bill Ranford stood on his head in games one and two, but it
was not enough. This team may have been too confident or may have
had no confidence. Did the trades that were made make the
remaining Wings feel as though they were in adequate and not up to
the challenge? Too many two on one breaks by the Avs were too much
to handle. The left wing lock completely broke down and the Wings
for some strange reason were unable to beat the neutral zone trap
this time as well. There will be some off season moves for sure.
Why don't the Wings have a goalie like Roy, Hasek, or Cujo that
can win a game all alone? Will Krupp help out? Where were McCarty
and Shanahan? Marty LaPointe? Will Scotty Retire? Will Murphy call
it quits? Will Shanahan or Fedorov get traded? Will Lidstrom go to
Sweden? So many questions. Why? Why? Why?
This loss hurts worse than the 95 Finals loss. Not because the Wings
lost to the dreaded Avs. It was the way in which they lost. The
system and talent was in place to repeat and it was not executed.
Either from lack of hunger or determination. That is not what
championships are made up of. This loss will not take anything away
from the two Cups, but is sure does put a tarnish on it. A tarnish
that cannot be erased until next season and only with a victory.
This is from Jason Baxter, a true Red Wing fan who writes a thank
you to the Red Wings:
Thank you for two Stanley Cups.
Thank you for giving our children decent, hard working, intelligent
role models.
Thank you for bringing well over 2 million people together over the
course of two years to downtown Detroit in peace to celebrate
accomplishment.
Thank you for introducing and recruiting legions of fans across the
U.S. to hockey
Thank you for giving us something to believe in.
Thank you for teaching us teamwork, dedication, and honor.
Thank you for providing us with a team we can hate (the Avs) and
giving us a rivalry that we can follow with anticipation for years
to come.
Thank you for winning with style.
Thank you for losing with grace.
Thank you for telling us that family is more important than hockey.
(Congrats Stevie!)
Thank you for giving us hours upon hours of entertainment as we
watched your successes and your failures and shared them with you.
Thank you for being so intriguing that two years ago my father, who
lives out of state and doesn't follow hockey, was inspired to call
me just to ask what the significance of the Octopi being thrown on
the ice was.
Thank you for crossing the racial, gender, cultural, and economic
lines in Detroit and bringing the community together.
Thank you for solidifying the nickname "Hockeytown" to Detroit
where it will be a fixture for years to come.
Thank you for sparking heated debate on line changes, defensive
pairings, the in the crease rule, bad calls (yes, Deadmarsh was
offsides), good calls, strategy, tactics, winning, losing.....the
list goes on.
Thank you for inspiring my daughter so much that she now wears a
Stevie Y #19 T-shirt with pride.
Thank you for the quality time we got when a family get together was
interrupted because there was a hockey game and EVERYONE stopped to
sit together, watch, and discuss.
That said....I don't care that you went down to defeat, I don't care
that talk radio is filled with second guessing and Monday morning
quarterbacking, I don't care that your stars are being criticized
for their play, I don't care that people are calling you over-rated,
over-paid, over-hyped, I don't care that you aren't going to win
this year's Stanley Cup.
I do care that you come back and play next season.
