Closer Look

Draper steps up as latest Grind Line offensive hero

Kris Draper leaps into the arms of a teammate after giving the Wings a 3-1 lead in the third period. AP

By Daniel G. Habib, Sports Illustrated

DETROIT -- For a guy with hands of stone cut as sharply as his fire-engine red playoff beard, Kris Draper showed a soft touch in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals Thursday night in Detroit.

After entering the contest with just one goal and two assists in 19 games this postseason, Draper assisted on the Red Wings' first goal and potted their last in a 3-1 victory that evened the series with Carolina at one game apiece.

Draper, who centers Detroit's blue-collar Grind Line, is known primarily for his quick first step, his physicality and his open-ice speed, but not, alas, for his mitts. A Red Wings radio call, so the joke goes, sounds like this: "Draper on a breakaway, and after this commercial, we'll be right back."

But in two key situations against the Hurricanes, Draper was deft with the puck to help the Wings become the first team to score three goals against Carolina since the Canadiens did so in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Three Stars      CNNSI.com's Jon A. Dolezar gives you his three stars of Game 2.  Analysis and Opinion  • Closer Look: Draper comes up big • Darren Eliot: Wings stay patient More Stories  • Game 2 : Recap | Summary • Hasek closes door on 'Canes • Late mistakes doom Carolina • Notes: Grind Line keeps contributing • Line Analysis: Hurricanes | Wings • Goalie Analysis: Irbe | Hasek   Stanley Cup Game 2 Click the image to launch the clip Scotty Bowman discusses Detroit's flow in Game 2, while Carolina's Paul Maurice pinpoints his team's flaws. Play Video Instant Poll  Which player had the biggest impact in Game 2? Kris Draper Sergei Fedorov Dominik Hasek Nicklas Lidstrom Kirk Maltby View Results Team Store  • Get your Carolina Hurricanes gear • Buy Detroit Red Wings souvenirs

At 6:33 of the first period, with Detroit killing a Steve Duchesne holding penalty, Draper and Kirk Maltby connected to create a pretty short-handed opportunity that gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. Defenseman Chris Chelios dug the puck out of the right corner and flipped it up the boards to Draper, who slickly redirected it across the middle of the ice and over the blue line. Maltby scooped the puck up, then outraced a backchecking Sean Hill down the right wing, before a wristing a bullet from the right faceoff circle short-side, beating Carolina goalie Arturs Irbe over the glove.

The shortie was a product of the chemistry between Draper and Maltby, who work the forward slots on the second penalty-kill unit. It was also a byproduct of Carolina's risky tendency to use winger Sami Kapanen on the right point of its man-up squad, which allows opposing penalty killers the chance to jump past him for breakaways.

"Forwards on the point, that's something you can take advantage of," Maltby said. "We work the penalty-kill side of it first, but if you get a chance to jump up on the offense there, so take it."

Draper flashed his offensive side once more, this time at 15:05 of the third period. Thirteen seconds after Nicklas Lidstrom's power-play goal snapped an interminable 1-1 tie, Draper broke loose off the faceoff, curled down the left wing and took a lovely, looping pass from Lidstrom behind the defense, then jetted to the left faceoff circle and snapped a wrister over Irbe's catching glove for the clinching insurance goal.

Of course, there was an old-school Draper gaffe: A minute and change into the third, Draper found himself alone in front of Irbe's crease with a juicy rebound on his backhand, but pulled it wide right, prolonging the Southern-drawl-slow affair.

"I had a good chance there early in the third, just tried to shovel it into the net and it didn't go in," Draper said. "Then you get an opportunity to come down the left side and take a wrist shot and it just went in. Felt good when Mac [winger Darren McCarty] gave me one of his patented bear hugs."

On a feelgood night all around, Detroit was breathing easier, finally having cracked the 'Canes' numbing penalty kill, and their noose-tight trap to boot.

"It's a grinding series, that's the way it's going to be," sighed a peaked Brendan Shanahan afterward. It was fitting that the equalizer came from Draper, and his Grind Line buddies.

 

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Notebook: Grind Line continues offensive contribution with two goals Three Stars: Lidstrom lifts Wings with game-winning goal in third Hasek closes the door on the Hurricanes in tight game 'Canes make costly late mistakes to blow chance at two-game lead Wings even series at 1-1 with 3-1 victory over 'Canes

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