The Osgood file
Detroit goalie blanks Dallas 2-0, gives Red Wings chance to repeat
Posted: Saturday June 06, 1998 02:11 AM
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Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman hoists the Campbell Cup, but all eyes in Hockey Town remain focused on Lord Stanley's cup () |
DETROIT (AP) -- The Stanley Cup will go through Detroit --
again. Larry Murphy and Sergei Fedorov
scored and Chris
Osgood notched his fifth career playoff shutout as the Red Wings
defeated the Dallas Stars
2-0 Friday night to wrap up the Western Conference title in six games.
The defending Stanley Cup champions advanced to the finals for the
third time in four years. Detroit will open the best-of-7 championship
series Tuesday night against the Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals at Joe
Louis Arena. The Stars won the Presidents' Trophy for having the
best record in the NHL during the regular season (49-22-11), and had the
best road record at 23-14-4. Still, the Red Wings were 2-1-2 against Dallas
during the regular season and the Stars now are just 1-17-2 in their 20
visits to Joe Louis Arena since the franchise moved from Minnesota.
Yet if any one thing did Dallas in during the conference finals, it
probably was the disappearance of its power play. The Stars were just
1-for-30 with the man advantage during the series with Detroit, and 0-for-5
in the sixth and deciding game. And the Red Wings only added to
Dallas' frustration by opening the scoring with a shorthanded goal, their
second of the series. With a few seconds left in Kris Draper's
roughing penalty, Steve Yzerman
snared a loose puck and slid it over to Darren McCarty
near center ice. McCarty hurried over the blue line, turned at the left
circle and fed the puck to Murphy, who had a step on Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov.
Chris Osgood shut out the Stars on 26 shots (AP) | |
Murphy faked Ed
Belfour toward the right side of the net, then flipped a backhander
over the goalie's stick for a shorthanded goal and 1-0 lead at 6:20 of the
first period. Detroit, bidding to become the first team since
the Pittsburgh Penguins
in 1992 to repeat as Cup champion, kept the pressure on. Only the strong
play of Belfour kept the score close as the Red Wings outshot Dallas 14-7
in the first period with several quality chances. Yzerman
whizzed a shot past Belfour's glove early, but the puck hit the right post.
McCarty, during another Dallas power play, broke in alone with 5:33 left in
the first period, but Belfour closed off the right side by hooking his leg
around the post to prevent another possible shorthanded goal.
Fedorov scored his first goal in eight games, since the second-round series
with St. Louis, on a no-look shot from the top of the slot. Fedorov, who
leads the NHL with nine playoff goals, seemed to catch Belfour by surprise
for a 2-0 lead 1:48 into the second period. The Stars came alive
after that. But then it was Detroit goalie Chris Osgood's turn to shine.
Dallas peppered Osgood, outshooting Detroit 11-7 in the second period. But
Osgood, who also shut out Dallas in Game 1, came up with big saves to
frustrate Mike
Keane, Mike
Modano, Jere
Lehtinen and Pat
Verbeek among others. "I felt great tonight," Osgood said.
"The last two series have been the best series I've ever played. Today felt
great. I can't wait to start the finals."
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Murphy (right corner) beat Belfour at 6:20 in the first period for a shorthanded goal (AP) |
The Red Wings outshot
Dallas 31-26 for the game. Belfour was pulled for an extra attacker with
1:15 remaining. Six appears to be a magic number for Detroit.
The Red Wings also needed six games to advance past Phoenix and St. Louis
in the first two rounds. A year ago, the Red Wings got blown out in Game 5
of the conference finals at Colorado, but rebounded to finish the series in
Game 6, then swept the Philadelphia Flyers in the
Cup finals. The 19,983 fans let Osgood know he was forgiven for
the soft Dallas overtime goal that made this game necessary with chants of
'Ozzie' as the teams lined up for the Star Spangled Banner. It
was not unlike the rousing ovation Detroit fans gave Tigers first baseman
Darrell Evans the day after his base-running blunder cost his team a
victory in Game 4 of the 1987 American League baseball playoffs against
Minnesota. "That meant a lot to me when they did that," Osgood
said. The Red Wings' goaltender never was worried about lack of
fan support, anyway.
"The fans never really got on me, that was
more the media," Osgood said. The chants rocked the arena again
late in the game as the clock became the Stars' biggest enemy. Osgood
responded with big saves on quality shots by Grant Marshall, Dan Keczmer and Mike
Modano in the final three minutes.
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NHL Finals
