Stanley Cup Notebook
Wide-open Wings head to Washington
Posted: Friday June 12, 1998 07:57 PM
| |
Steve Yzerman likes the wide-open game more than the Red Wings' left-wing lock defensive style (AP) |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals was one of the most
entertaining hockey games of the season.
Detroit's 5-4 overtime victory featured 93 shots, dozens of great scoring
chances, super goaltending by Washington's Olaf Kolzig and the
Red Wings' Chris
Osgood and almost non-stop action from the third period on.
The fantastic finish came when Kris Draper scored
with 4:36 left in the first overtime period.
Asked if he liked the wide-open game more than the Red Wings' left-wing
lock defensive style, captain Steve Yzerman was
honest.
"It is the way we like to play," Yzerman said. "Our coach doesn't care
for it."
Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman said that's for sure. His favorite period
on Thursday was the first. Detroit led 1-0.
"Most of the guys felt this was their best period of the playoffs," he
said. Injuries
Washington defenseman Jeff Brown probably
won't play in Game 3 on Saturday and may be out for the playoffs, coach Ron
Wilson said.
Brown has had a problem with post-concussion syndrome and he felt
nauseated after the second period Thursday night. The illness forced Wilson
to use only four defensemen the rest of the way.
"I can't imagine that he would be able to play the rest of the series, to
be honest with you," Wilson said.
Detroit also may be shorthanded with left wing Vyacheslav Kozlov -- who
has six goals and seven assists in the postseason -- nursing a charley
horse from late in the second period of Game 2. Cup numbers
The Red Wings were the first team to overcome a two-goal deficit in the
third period of the Stanley Cup finals since Montreal in 1956. Over that
42-year span, clubs leading by two goals or more in the third period had
won 89 consecutive times.
Detroit was the first team in finals history to overcome two two-goal
deficits in the third period.
The Red Wings' 60 shots in Game 2 were the second-highest total by one
club in a finals game since 1968. The only club to have more shots on goal
was the Florida
Panthers (63) in a triple overtime loss to Colorado in Game 4 of the
1996 finals.
Since expansion in 1968, 13 defending champions have reached the finals
the following season. They have posted an 11-2 record -- the New York Islanders lost
to the Edmonton Oilers in
1984 and the Philadelphia
Flyers lost to the Montreal Canadiens in
1976. Positive thinking
Wilson found something positive being down 2-0 in the best-of-7 Stanley
Cup finals to the defending champions.
The Caps have a history of blowing 3-1 leads in playoffs.
"One thing for sure, we can't blow a 3-1 lead," he said.
Wilson even saw an irony.
"They have got a 3-1 lead. I am talking about, and maybe we will find
ourselves down 3-1 and come back," Wilson said. "Maybe this is the ultimate
way to bury everything from the past." Messy story
After last night's game, Detroit assistant Dave Lewis said Doug Brown scored his
game-tying goal after being hit on the bridge of the nose and that there
was blood dripping from both nostrils on his big goal.
Great story, except Brown said that Lewis missed one detail.
Brown said he was hit on the nose on the shift after the goal. No
clue
Yzerman was asked to compare the mood of the fans in Washington,
newcomers to a Stanley Cup final, to those in Detroit, which bills itself
as Hockeytown.
"We have been here about 45 minutes, so it is a little too early yet,"
Yzerman said. Kozlov out?
If Kozlov can't play because of a leg injury received in Game 2, it is
expected that Mathieu
Dandenault will get to play for the first time since the opening round
of the playoffs.
It would also be the 22-year-old's first appearance in a Cup final.
"I have been waiting for this for three years," he said. "It would be
like living a dream. Watching these guys and getting ready for practice
with these guys -- get me in there."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
NHL Finals
