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Extra effort 'Canes fall for only second time in nine OT gamesPosted: Sunday June 09, 2002 1:43 AMUpdated: Sunday June 09, 2002 4:26 AM
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The overtime magic ran out on the Carolina Hurricanes, although it sure took long enough for the Detroit Red Wings to break through. Igor Larionov's goal with 5:13 left in the third extra session gave Detroit a 3-2 victory Saturday night and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals. Twice in the Eastern Conference finals, including the series-clincher in Game 6 against Toronto, the Hurricanes lost leads in the final seconds of regulation, only to rally for overtime wins. Carolina blew another late lead in Game 3 against Detroit, allowing Brett Hull's deflection with 1:14 left in the third period to tie it at 2. "We don't want to give up those, we don't want to go into overtime when we have a chance to squeeze a team there at the end," Kevyn Adams said. "But they made a nice play. "There was no lack of confidence in the room going into overtime," he added. "We've been able to get the ones in overtime, but that wasn't the case. But you know, it's 2-1 and if we come out and play a hard Game 4 we can even this thing up."
"We felt confident going into overtime," Glen Wesley said. "We had no doubts in our minds. We can't second-guess ourselves now. We played hard and we deserved a great opportunity to win and unfortunately, we didn't." So, for now, Montreal's record of 10 overtime wins in the 1993 playoffs is safe. "It was obviously a man's game there at the end because there was some wild things going on," said Carolina coach Paul Maurice, whose head was bowed as he spoke with his assistants 15 minutes after the tough defeat. Carolina won Game 1 in Detroit when Ron Francis scored less than a minute into overtime to stun the crowd at Joe Louis Arena. On Saturday night, the crowd at the Entertainment and Sports Arena, many of whom stayed and stood the entire six periods, went home disappointed. "We went into their building and won the first game in overtime and they came in ours and did the same thing," said Bates Battaglia, who tried to break up Larionov's scoring play by sliding on the ice. "They bounced back and we'll bounce back." Detroit carried the play for most of the first overtime, outshooting the Hurricanes 11-5 and getting constant pressure on Arturs Irbe. And it was Irbe who robbed Steve Yzerman late in the second OT with a diving stop that so far has been the save of the series. However, the Hurricanes got caught up ice late in the third OT and Larionov made Carolina pay, beating Irbe, who made 50 saves, up high. Carolina also lost for just the second time in 11 playoff games when scoring first. "They won the game, so they're going to feel a little better about themselves than we do, but at the same time both teams battled hard to the end," Adams said. The Hurricanes, a huge underdog in the series, have taken the powerhouse Red Wings deep into three straight games. "It's hard to explain how much I'm impressed with them because we don't see them a lot," Hull said. "They're big and strong and fast -- and disciplined."
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