Red Wings Escape Disaster, 3-2
Too late, Detroit goaltender Mike Vernon spotted the puck coming out of a crowd of players.
But the Red Wings got a break when the puck carromed off the post and the game ended, giving them a 3-2 victory Sunday over the Chicago Blackhawks and a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference finals.
The Red Wings scored two late goals, including Kris Draper’s with 1:45 remaining, for the win.
“I couldn’t see the guy with the puck,” Vernon said. “I was looking for it.”
Tony Amonte fired the shot from near the Chicago blue line. As the puck sailed through the air, Vernon remained frozen outside the crease.
“I knew the shot would be coming,” Vernon said. “I knew I was outside my crease. I was just trying to hold my ground. When I finally saw the puck, I sort of kicked at it with my pad. I missed it.
“I saw it hit the post. Yep, I saw that.”
Chicago had been 19-0-0 during the abbreviated season when leading after two periods and 5-0-0 in the playoffs. But the Blackhawks, who dominated the second period, gave up two third-period goals. Detroit outshot Chicago 13-3 in the final period and 38-20 for the game.
“We just have to be more assertive,” Chicago forward Joe Murphy said. “We can’t stand around watching all their best players.”
Draper, who had just two goals during the season, scored his third of the playoffs on the rebound of a shot by Nicklas Lidstrom. The puck bounced off goalie Ed Belfour’s glove, right to the stick of Draper.
“As soon as I saw the water bottle move, I took off, and just waited for someone to catch up with me so I could celebrate,” Draper said. “That was the most important goal of my life.”
Belfour was pulled for an extra attacker with 54 seconds remaining.
“Eddie played a hell of a game,” Chicago coach Darryl Sutter said. “They had a lot of close-in chances early, and he kept us in the game.”
Chris Chelios and Amonte scored unassisted goals for Chicago. Dino Ciccarelli and Doug Brown scored for the Red Wings.
Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-seven series are Tuesday and Thursday, in Chicago.
“We know we can come back, because we were down 2-0 to Toronto, too,” Sutter said. “And we also know that we could very easily be going home up 2-0 instead of down 2-0.”
In Game 1, Detroit outshot Chicago 23-14, holding the Blackhawks to just four shots in the second period, one in the third and none in overtime. It looked like Game 2 would be more of the same as Detroit outshot Chicago 16-4 in the first period.
Keith Primeau, a major force for Detroit in Game 1, seemed to be knocking down Chicago players all over the ice in the first period. But he and the Red Wings lost some intensity after that.
“Between the first and second period, there wasn’t much said,” Chicago defenseman Steve Smith said. “We knew Eddie (Belfour) held us in there again. We just had to play better in front of him.”
The Blackhawks finally hit their stride, outshooting the Red Wings 13-9 in the second period while regaining the lead, 2-1.
Detroit 3, Chicago 2
Chicago 1 1 0 - 2
Detroit 1 0 2 - 3
First period-1, Chicago, Chelios 4, 7:59. 2, Detroit, Ciccarelli 8 (Coffey, Lidstrom), 16:43 (pp).
Second period-3, Chicago, Amonte 3, 11:07.
Third period-4, Detroit, Brown 4 (Fetisov, Fedorov), 7:57. 5, Detroit, Draper 3 (Lidstrom, Coffey), 18:15.
Shots on goal-Chicago 4-13-3-20. Detroit 16-9-13-38.Power-play opp.-Chicago 0 of 2; Detroit 1 of 4.Goalies-Chicago, Belfour 8-5 (38 shots-35 saves). Detroit, Vernon 10-1 (20-18).A-19,875 (19,875).
xxxx NHL PLAYOFFS Today’s game Devils-Flyers, 4:30 p.m.