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Closer Look Unlikely defensive pair help Wings score game-winnerPosted: Sunday June 09, 2002 3:34 AMUpdated: Sunday June 09, 2002 4:57 AM
By Daniel G. Habib, Sports Illustrated RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Hurricanes remain matchless in overtime, double overtime, too. It's triple overtime that's a bear. Not until 14:47 of the third overtime did the Red Wings crack Carolina's overtime hex, on a roofed backhander by center Igor Larionov, who gave Detroit a 3-2 victory and a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup finals. Larionov's second goal of the game -- he had one-touched a feed from Brett Hull over Irbe's glove to tie the score 1-1 at 5:33 of the second -- resulted from one of the Wings' defensemen's finest skills: the quick breakout. Yet it was an unlikely duo, the lightly regarded third pairing of Steve Duchesne and Mathieu Dandenault, who catalyzed the game-winner. With Carolina's third defensive pair of Marek Malik and Niclas Wallin pressing high in the Detroit zone, and winger Erik Cole pinching in at the right point, Duchesne grabbed a loose puck in his left corner and slid it off the boards, past Cole and out of the Detroit end. Tomas Holmstrom bulled up the wing in pursuit, winning a footrace with Malik to the opposite blue line before corralling the puck.
Meanwhile Dandenault, perhaps galvanized by the promise of bedtime, flitted to the Carolina net, materializing on the doorstep to Irbe's left. That bit of hustle turned a one-on-one matchup into a dangerous two-on-one, freezing Irbe in the center of his crease, as he honored the cross-ice pass. "He made a move and [Dandenault] was crisscrossing in the way, so I had to also watch for the pass to him," Irbe said. "[Larionov] just held and held, and obviously I lost a little bit of my ground and went down." Dandenault's presence also forced Hurricanes winger Bates Battaglia, who was the deepest backchecker, to drop to the ice -- a natural reaction from a team that blocked 38 total shots in Games 1 and 2 and 38 more in Game 3. ("I was just trying to hurry him," Battaglia said.) Larionov, blessed with a fortysomething's patience, floated around the sprawled Battaglia and averted catastrophe when Dandenault vaulted over his stick. He then shoveled the puck off his backhand and under the crossbar. That spot was itself a solid choice, since during the finals Irbe has proved most vulnerable high to the glove side. "I just decided to wait a little bit then see what the defensemen were going to do," Larionov said. "[Battaglia] committed to me. He just slid on the ice, and I just walked around him and took my time." It was a redemptive moment for Dandenault, whose failure to clear a loose puck led to Josef Vasicek's artful first-period goal. "Mathieu Dandenault has played a lot of forward, and he looked like he could be a guy that might be able to move up with the play," Bowman said. "I think Mathieu made it tough for Irbe because he went right to the net." The versatility and puck-moving acumen of Detroit's defensemen, even as far down the depth chart as the third pair, was an advantage on paper. Carolina's blueliners tend to favor the rugged, physical game, and though their clearances tend to be on-target, they aren't usually apt to flick the long pass or join the rush. The ability of Duchesne and Dandenault to do both was the difference Saturday night, er, Sunday morning. |
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