Three down, one to go
Wings dump Caps, win away from defending title
Posted: Saturday June 13, 1998 11:37 PM
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Osgood and the Red Wings held the Capitals to one goal to take a commanding 3-0 series lead (AP) |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Start putting the Detroit Red Wings' names
on the Stanley Cup again. Barring the greatest motivational
speech of coach Ron Wilson's career and a complete turnaround by the Washington Capitals, the
Cup is going back to Hockeytown for a second straight year. Sergei Fedorov
made a $12 million move and scored with 4:51 to play as the Red Wings beat
the Capitals 2-1 Saturday night to take a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup
finals. Only one team in NHL history has rallied from a 3-0
deficit in the finals to win the Stanley Cup -- the Toronto Maple Leafs in
1942 against Detroit. This Detroit club can now become the
first team since the Pittsburgh Penguins in
1991 and 1992 to capture consecutive Cups by winning Game 4 of the
best-of-seven series at the MCI Center on Tuesday night. If
the Red Wings do that, they will also become the first team to win the NHL
title with consecutive sweeps in the finals since the New York Islanders capped
a string of four consecutive titles with sweeps in 1982 and 1983.
Coach Scotty Bowman also would tie Toe Blake's record for Stanley Cup
titles by a coach with eight. Tomas Holmstrom
got the other Detroit goal 35 seconds after the opening faceoff. Brian Bellows of
the Capitals tied the game at 10:35 of the third period on a power play.
Fedorov's game-winner was magnificent. He took a pass off the
side boards from Doug
Brown at center ice and steamed into the Capitals' zone with only
defenseman Calle
Johansson between him and goaltender Olaf Kolzig.
Holmstrom struck for a goal 35 seconds into the first period to give the Red Wings an early 1-0 edge (AP) | |
Fedorov cut inside as he reached the right faceoff circle and then
snapped a shot that beat Kolzig over his glove. Detroit
goaltender Chris
Osgood didn't have to make a tough stop over the final minutes,
finishing with 17 saves. As the Red Wings skated off the ice,
the small number of Detroit fans in the MCI Center chanted "Sweep! Sweep!
Sweep!" Dominated most of the game by Detroit but only down a
goal since the opening 35 seconds, Washington finally tied the game midway
through the third period with Darren McCarty off
for tripping. Adam Oates made the
key play going to the net from the left circle. His shot hit someone in the
crease and Bellows came in quickly and ripped it past Osgood for his fifth
goal of the playoffs. Getting the first goal seemingly has been
one of the keys to the Red Wings' success in the playoffs this year. They
are 12-1 when scoring first. Game 3 was only 35 seconds old when
Steve Yzerman
broke into the Capitals zone, fought off a back check by Esa Tikkanen and got
off a shot while crashing into Kolzig. The puck came out of the pileup and
Holmstrom, fighting off a check by Todd Krygier, pushed
it into the open net. Holmstrom, who had 22 points in 57
regular-season games, now has 18 -- seven goals, 11 assists -- in 21
playoffs contests. He has a goal and three assists in this series.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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