Advertising Opportunities

head coach: Scotty Bowman

roster: C - Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov, Kris Draper, Sergei Fedorov. LW - Brendan Shanahan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Doug Brown, Tomas Holmstrom, Kirk Maltby, Brent Gilchrist. RW - Darren McCarty, Joey Kocur, Martin Lapointe. D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Bob Rouse, Slava Fetisov, Larry Murphy, Dmitri Mironov, Jamie Macoun, Aaron Ward, Anders Eriksson, Mathieu Dandenault. G - Chris Osgood, Kevin Hodson.

injuries: None.

transactions: None.

game results:

First Round vs Phoenix: Red Wings won series 4-2

4/22 Phoenix      W 6-3
4/24 Phoenix      L 7-4   
4/26 at Phoenix   L 3-2
4/28 at Phoenix   W 4-2
4/30 Phoenix      W 3-1
5/03 at Phoenix   W 5-2

Second Round vs St. Louis: Red Wings won series 4-2

5/08 St. Louis    L 4-2 
5/10 St. Louis    W 6-2
5/12 at St. Louis W 2-1
5/14 at St. Louis W 5-2
5/17 St. Louis    L 3-1
5/19 at St. Louis W 6-1

Western Conference Finals vs Dallas: Red Wings lead 3-1

5/24 at Dallas  W 2-0
5/26 at Dallas  L 3-1
5/29 Dallas     W 5-3
5/31 Dallas     W 3-2

team news:

by Dino Cacciola, Detroit Correspondent

CONFERENCE FINALS - GAME 3
DETROIT 5, DALLAS 3

Great hockey in what is being considered "THE" series to watch. Well things started out pretty good then it changed fairly quickly. The Wings had a commanding 4-0 lead, but the Stars came back with three straight goals, one in the second period and two in the third. The Red Wings slacked off and it almost cost them the game. But defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom had two goals and an assist as the Red Wings hung on for a 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. Whew!

"When you sit back like we did in the second and third period, you can't expect to win very many," Forward Darren McCarty said. "We got lucky tonight." Whew!

Brent Gilchrist, Jamie Macoun and Martin Lapointe also scored for the Red Wings in the win. The Stars are 1-15-2 at Joe Louis Arena since the franchise moved from Minneapolis to Dallas.

Lapointe's goal gave the Red Wings some breathing room when he beat goalie Ed Belfour with a wrist shot from the slot with about four minutes remaining in the third period through the five hole. Whew!

"That was a relief," Lapointe said. "We can't play like that. We let up, and it cost us. We were lucky tonight."

The Red Wings scored on just their second shot of the game. Brent Gilchrist flipped the puck past Belfour high to the stick side for his fourth playoff goal at 5:50 of the first period. The Red Wings took a 2-0 lead at 12:42 on Nick Lidstrom's power-play goal with six seconds left in the penalty.

Belfour faced only 20 shots while Ozzie faced 34 in the win.

CONFERENCE FINALS - GAME FOUR
DETROIT 3, DALLAS 2

The "Vladinator" was back in town! The Detroit Red Wings are one victory away from going back to the Stanley Cup Finals. With injured defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov watching from a private suite at the Joe Louis arena, Slava Kozlov broke a tie at 11:30 of the third period, lifting the Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. The Wings now have a three games to one advantage heading back into Dallas for Game 5.

Kirk Maltby and Steve Yzerman also scored. The first star of the game was Chris Osgood who made some great saves throughout the game to keep the Stars in check.

"I think that was maybe as good as I've seen Osgood play, today," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said. "When it was 2-2, we thought we were going to win the hockey game. It's a fine line between winning and losing."

With the game tied at 2 in the third, Belfour had to be quick to cover the puck as centerman Sergei Fedorov hovered near the crease. But Belfour had no chance as Kozlov tipped Larry Murphy's shot from the top of the slot over the goalie's right shoulder for the game winner at 11:30 of the third period. The crowd was chanting "Belfour" throughout the whole game and was taunting him.

Dallas pulled Belfour with 1:18 left in the game and got two great shots, but Ozzie came through again with clutch plays. The Stars outshot Detroit, 30-23. "They were shooting the puck every chance they got," said Osgood, "I had about three guys in front of me. They were really coming after us at the end. They were pretty desperate." The Stars were buzzing quite a bit around the net.

Vladimir Konstantinov and team massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov, injured in the same limo accident last year, viewed the game from team owner Mike Ilitch's private suite. Their presence was acknowledged only with an announcement on the public address system by Bud Lynch. But that was enough to trigger a thunderous 95 second ovation from the sellout crowd of 19,983 fans. The house was rocking! Vlady waived and Sergei waived. Many of the people in the crowd shed tears. It was truly a moving movement. Slava Fetisov skated out from the bench and was visibly moved by the outpouring. He was in the limo accident as well. Watching the Stars look up at the suite in acknowledgement was very sincere as well.

"It was very emotional," Igor Larionov said. "When you hear all those people cheer, those people who love him. I was deeply touched when I saw his picture up on the screen."

Konstantinov still dreams of returning to the Red Wings, his wife says. "He's absolutely sure he will do it, and I'm supporting him," Irina Konstantinov said in an interview with the CBC. "I think it's great." Asked whether she believes he will make the recovery he needs to be am NHL player again, she said: "I don't know what to say. You know what..I wish." She said she and her and Valdy were touched by the fact that the team has kept his locker in game condition and with the mementos, including a good luck rock with "believe" written upon it. "The first time we saw it, we had tears in our eyes," she said. "That really gives us a great feeling." Very nice gesture by his teammates.

The Wings are a very united team that is not using the whole injury story as a motivating tool publicly; but it is something that cannot be overlooked because it is so real. They have a common goal and this is something very inspirational. For a team that was not given a chance by many to win anything, they sure have come a long way.

[ issues | web extra | stats | nhl archive | home | chat | mailing list | about us | search | comments ]

1998 © Copyright LCS Hockey All Rights Reserved