Sweet redemption
Osgood atones for Game 5 faux pas with Game 6 shutout
Posted: Saturday June 06, 1998 10:49 AM
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Os-good as gold: Detroit's Chris Osgood (left) outdueled Ed Belfour in Game 6, stopping 26 Dallas shots and recording his fifth career playoff shutout (Robert Laberge/Allsport) |
DETROIT (Reuters) -- Chris Osgood atoned
for his Game 5 gaffe with 26 saves and Larry Murphy had a
shorthanded goal and an assist Friday as the Detroit Red Wings
returned to the Stanley Cup finals with a 2-0 shutout of the Dallas Stars.
The win gave Detroit a 4-2 victory in the best-of-seven Western
Conference finals and put them into the championship series against the Washington Capitals.
Osgood surrendered a 90-foot goal to Dallas' Jamie
Langenbrunner in overtime Wednesday that prolonged the series. Before
the opening faceoff, the Joe Louis Arena crowd let Osgood know it stood
firmly behind him with a resounding chant of "Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie!"
Osgood was perfect in Friday's clincher, recording his second shutout of
the series and fifth of his playoff career.
"The fans have been behind me all the time," said Osgood. "I can't wait
to start the finals."
The defending champion Red Wings will host Game 1 of the Stanley Cup
finals against the Capitals on Tuesday.
"This was a tough series," said Detroit coach Scotty Bowman. "I think our
defense won it tonight, especially our goaltender. Osgood has come a long
way in these playoffs."
Sergei
Fedorov, held to one assist in the first five games, scored Friday's
other goal for the Red Wings, who will be making their third finals
appearance in four years.
The Stars, the fourth straight Presidents' Trophy winners to fail to win
the Stanley Cup, may have been done in by their showing on the power play.
Dallas was 0-5 with a man-advantage Friday and were a woeful 1-for-30 for
the series, while yielding a pair of shorthanded goals. The Stars slid to a
dismal 2-17-2 in games at Detroit since moving from Minnesota.
"They have a great hockey team, but I still think we could have beaten
them if we got the seventh game back to Dallas," said Stars coach Ken
Hitchcock. "Our power play's failure is the reason we lost."
Murphy, a veteran of 198 playoff games, scored the only goal Osgood
needed at 6:20 of the opening period.
Detroit was killing a roughing penalty on Kris Draper when
Murphy took a pass from Darren McCarty at
the right faceoff circle, cut to the net and flipped a backhander that went
in off goaltender Ed
Belfour's right arm.
It was a weak goal off Belfour, who came up big in the early going when
he got the tip of his glove on Steve Yzerman's
point-blank rebound chance. Belfour also made a left pad stop to deny
McCarty on a breakaway with 5:36 left in the first period.
Belfour also was shaky on Detroit's second goal. Langenbrunner turned the
puck over at his own blue line and Fedorov corraled it in the neutral zone.
He got it back as he cruised across the high slot and let go a wrist shot
that tipped in off the bottom of Belfour's glove just 1:48 into the second
period.
It was the career-high ninth playoff goal for Fedorov, who needs one more
to tie Petr Klima's
1988 team record for a single postseason.
Dallas had seven shots on goal in the first period, 11 shots in the
middle stanza and eight more in the final segment, but Osgood stopped them
all. One in particular was a pad stop on Mike Keane's shot from
the left doorstep with 16:08 remaining. He later came up again with
back-to-back saves on Jere Lehtinen and
Langenbrunner during a power play late in the period.
"Ozzie (Chris Osgood) turned in his best performance," said Fedorov. "But
this isn't about Osgood, although he is very important to us.
"It's about 20 guys doing the work needed to win. This isn't about money,
it's about winning and being the best."
Detroit will be trying to become the first repeat champions since the Pittsburgh Penguins in
1991-92 when they face the Capitals, who are making their first Stanley Cup
finals appearance in their 24-year history.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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