'We're not worried about Chris'
Detroit supports Osgood despite giving up OT long shot
Posted: Thursday June 04, 1998 01:05 AM
| |
Osgood (right) was beaten in overtime when Langenbrunner's 70-foot desperation shot rolled up his stick and into the net (Stephen Dunn/Allsport) |
DALLAS (AP) -- It was one of the worst goals given up by Chris Osgood in his career, but his Detroit Red Wings teammates still remain solidly behind their goaltender.
The Dallas Stars won 3-2 in overtime Wednesday night when Jamie Langenbrunner's 70-foot desperation shot rolled up Osgood's stick and into the net.
Osgood's teammates, however, know it was his strong play that has helped the Red Wings to victories in three of the first four games of the best-of-7 Western Conference final against the Stars.
"We're not worried about Chris," said Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman said. "We have confidence in him and he has confidence in himself."
Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman said he didn't plan to talk to Osgood about the misplay after the bouncing puck hit the ice twice, rolled up the goalie's stick and found its way into the net.
"We lose as a team," Bowman said.
The Red Wings were on the verge of wrapping up the series by capitalizing on more breaks than the Stars.
Then, with less than two minutes left in regulation and the Red Wings clinging to a 2-1 lead, the puck started bouncing Dallas' way.
First came a goal from Dallas' 38-year-old center Guy Carbonneau, whose shot with 1:25 left hit off Igor Larionov's stick and into the upper right corner of the net to tie it at 2-2 and send the game into overtime.
"We were protecting the lead," Bowman said. "We had a lot of dump-ins, some questionable icings. We made some mistakes. But the thing was, we didn't make enough breaks for ourselves and they got a lucky goal. It was a game where there were few scoring chances."
The Red Wings are still in good shape. They have a 3-2 lead with Game 6 at home Friday night. No team has ever rallied from a three-games-to-one deficit to win a conference final since 1968, when the NHL went to separate conference finals.
But Detroit still has no goals from Sergei Federov and Brendan Shanahan, and only one from Yzerman.
"We were 1:25 away from a victory," Yzerman said. "But we weren't expecting an easy game from Dallas. They don't give up. They kept banging away and got a couple of breaks. You create your breaks by working hard, and that's what they did."
| 
NHL Finals
