Wings Turn Back The Clock Detroit Ends 42-Year Drought By Clinching The Stanley Cup

Gordie Howe was back. So was the octopus. And, finally, after 42 years, so was the Stanley Cup.

The Detroit Red Wings ended the NHL’s longest current Cup wait and won their eighth title overall, completing a sweep of the favored Philadelphia Flyers with a 2-1 win Saturday night.

With confetti flying, fans cheering wildly and Howe, a Hall of Famer from Detroit’s glory years, hugging players on the ice and applauding, Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman accepted the Cup from commissioner Gary Bettman.

He kissed it and then was allowed by his teammates to skate around the ice alone in what was the most awaited moment for hockey fans here since 1955.

The NHL’s third straight sweep in the finals also made Scotty Bowman the first coach to win championships with three different teams. He won five titles with Montreal and one with Pittsburgh.

This might be Bowman’s last - his contract runs out after this season - and the 63-year-old coach has refused to discuss his future.

“This makes it a tough decision,” Bowman said. “I’ll wait a couple of weeks, talk to the owners and make a decision.”

One thing Bowman did do after the game was run back to the locker room and put on a pair of skates. Shortly after Slava Fetisov and Igor Larionov carried the Cup around the ice together, Bowman took a spin around the ice.

“I always wanted to know what it felt like to skate with the Cup,” he said.

When asked how it felt, he smiled.

“It’s heavy, but it’s light, too.”

Howe was ecstatic.

“This is beautiful,” he said. “The fans have had to wait much too long for this and I am thrilled the city has gotten another Cup.”

If this was Bowman’s final game, it was a brilliant ending to his four years as coach. The Red Wings were awesome in the finals as playoffs MVP Mike Vernon limited the Flyers to six goals and Detroit never let either Eric Lindros or Philadelphia’s vaunted forechecking game be a factor.

“I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t have a great series, (but) I’m not going to jump off the Walt Whitman (Bridge),” Lindros said.

Lindros didn’t get his first goal of the series until 14.8 seconds remained Saturday night.

As the final seconds clicked off, Joe Louis Arena erupted, with fireworks exploding and confetti flying from the rafters as the Red Wings mobbed Vernon and each other.

The Flyers held the lead for two minutes in the entire series as the Red Wings’ left wing lock worked as efficiently as Motown’s best auto assembly line.

So did the Wings’ Russian Five, who added the NHL crown to the many international titles the former Soviets already own.

“I feel better right now than I have after winning any world championship or Olympics,” said Vladimir Konstantinov. “I can’t even explain what this means to me. It’s better than anything I have ever done in hockey.”

The Flyers responded with probably their best game of the series. But the Red Wings again made all the key plays, with Nicklas Lidstrom scoring with 33 seconds left in the first period and Darren McCarty adding a breakaway goal with 6:58 left in the second.

Vernon, who played in just 12 of the Red Wings’ first 44 games this year, stopped 26 shots in raising his record to 16-4 in the playoffs and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy.

“It’s an unbelievable situation,” Vernon said. “I’m having lots of fun … this is the ultimate right here, babe.”

Lidstrom’s goal was the key one Saturday, and it came on yet another long shot that beat Flyers goalie Ron Hextall.

“The first goal was really big coming in the final minute,” Bowman said. “I had a feeling it might hold up once we got it.”

McCarty really ignited the sellout crowd of 19,983 with a great goal. He took a pass from Tomas Sandstrom, skated around rookie defenseman Janne Niinimaa, avoided Hextall and slid the puck into an empty net.

Within seconds, the crowd was chanting “Sweep, sweep, sweep” and waving brooms.

The Red Wings thought their drought would end two years ago, but they were swept by New Jersey in the finals, a defeat that caused Bowman to make his team bigger and stronger and one that also taught the Wings what it takes to win.

Red Wings 2, Flyers 1

Philadelphia 0 0 1 - 1

Detroit 1 1 0 - 2

First period-1, Detroit, Lidstrom 2 (Maltby), 19:27. Penalties- LeClair, Phi (holding), 3:23; Larionov, Det (interference), 4:31; Lindros, Phi (interference), 9:22; Falloon, Phi (holding stick), 13:21.

Second period-2, Detroit, McCarty 3 (Sandstrom, Yzerman), 3:02. Penalty-Konstantinov, Det (interference), 9:27.

Third period-3, Philadelphia, Lindros 12 (Desjardins), 19:45. Penalties-Samuelsson, Phi (slashing), 1:32; Podein, Phi (high-sticking), 11:54; Draper, Det (slashing), 14:39.

Shots on goal-Philadelphia 8-12-8-28. Detroit 9-10-8-27.Power-play opp.-Philadelphia 0 of 3; Detroit 0 of 5.Goalies-Philadelphia, Hextall 4-3 (27 shots-25 saves). Detroit, Vernon 16-4 (28-27).A-19,983 (19,983).

Referee-Bill McCreary. Linesmen-Wayne Bonney, Gord Broseker.