Detroit Wings Into Cup Final With All-Out Assault On Roy

NHL playoffs

Playing as if they were petrified at the thought of playing Game 7 of the Western Conference finals at Denver, the Detroit Red Wings finished off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche 3-1 Monday night to earn their second trip in three years to the Stanley Cup finals.

The Red Wings will be trying to win their first cup since 1955 when they face the Philadelphia Flyers in a best-of-7 series that begins on Saturday in Philadelphia. In their last trip to the finals in 1995, the Red Wings were dismissed in four games by the New Jersey Devils.

“I told the team before the game, it’s so hard to get to the finals, they would rue the day they showed up and didn’t play the game of their lives,” Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said after Monday’s win. “When you can knock out the Stanley Cup champions in one game, you’ve got to do it.”

Patrick Roy was about all that separated the Red Wings from what could have been a blowout. Detroit ripped shot upon shot at the Colorado netminder during a furious opening 20 minutes. But no matter if it was Vyacheslav Fetisov on a rocket from the slot, Brendan Shanahan from point-blank range in front of the crease or Steve Yzerman on a wraparound attempt, Roy knocked away all 14 shots from a Red Wings team that played with utter fury. Over all, Roy stopped 40 of 42 shots.

“Ultimately, they wore our team down,” Colorado coach Marc Crawford said. “Patrick gave us a chance to steal one, but at this level you don’t try to steal games.”

The Avalanche, on the other hand, barely bothered Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon, who stopped 15 of 16 shots.

Penalties were of no real consequence for either team. The relatively gentlemanly behavior was in stark contrast to the 204 minutes of infractions the teams had accumulated in Game 4 in Detroit, which the Red Wings won 6-0.

Detroit finally solved Roy at 3:29 of the second period on Martin Lapointe’s blast from atop the left circle.

Lapointe’s goal came on a full-stride slap shot that ripped past Roy’s left arm and buried in the net.

It was the first goal Roy had allowed in more than five periods, dating back to Game 4.

Lapointe’s shot was only part of the arsenal unleashed by Detroit on Roy. Bowman’s pre-game orders had been for his star forwards - Shanahan, Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov - to lead an all-out assault on a netminder who throughout his career has shown remarkable ability to frustrate opponents.

The Red Wings responded with a merciless attack. They outshot Colorado 30-8 through the first two periods.

The Red Wings had been dominated by the Avalanche 6-0 in Game 5 at Denver and several of the Detroit players said they had to win Monday night - a tacit admission that they were long shots in a series finale on Avalanche ice.

A sense of desperation marked Detroit’s play even as it took a 1-0 lead into the third period. The Red Wings continued to storm Roy, getting a second goal at 6:11, when Fedorov scored off a pass from Slava Kozlov, who had deftly worked his way behind the net and past Sandis Ozolinsh for the feed.

Colorado was enjoying a different night altogether on offense as the Red Wings disjointed them well into the third period and made life relatively comfortable for Vernon.

The Avalanche finally scored at 14:48 of the third period on Scott Young’s rebound of Adam Deadmarsh’s shot. It was only the team’s 15th shot on goal as Detroit controlled the puck and kept relentless heat on Roy.

Roy was pulled for an extra attacker with 47 seconds remaining, but Shanahan ended any hopes the Avalanche had of overtime when he scored into an empty net at 19:30 to clinch the victory.

Red Wings 3, Avalanche 1

Colorado 0 0 1 - 1

Detroit 0 1 2 - 3

First period-None.

Second period-1, Detroit, Lapointe 2 (Larionov), 3:29. Third period-2, Detroit, Fedorov 5 (Kozlov, Brown), 6:11. 3, Colorado, Young 4 (Deadmarsh, Forsberg), 14:48. 4, Detroit, Shanahan 6 (Larionov), 19:30 (en). Shots on goal-Colorado 3-5-8-16. Detroit 14-16-12-42.Power-play opp.-Colorado 0 of 3; Detroit 0 of 3.Goalies-Colorado, Roy 10-7 (42 shots-40 saves). Detroit, Vernon 12-4 (16-15).A-19,983 (19,983).