Red Wings Are Shaky in Showdowns

DETROIT —  A team like the Detroit Red Wings can probably only ask history to work so hard. After that, it’s a lost cause. Just ask the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Wings have a lot of history. They were, after all, one of the original six NHL teams. But that didn’t figure to help when they played the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of their Western Conference series.

For what seems like too long now, a lot of things have gone wrong for the Red Wings. These mishaps have propelled the club high onto the list of underachievers:

--In 1993, Toronto eliminated Detroit in the first round.

--In 1994, San Jose eliminated Detroit in the first round.

--In 1995, after compiling the NHL’s best regular-season record, the Red Wings were swept in the finals by the New Jersey Devils.

--In 1996, after winning an NHL-record 62 games, the Red Wings find themselves pushed to the brink of elimination by the underdog Blues.

“We know we can play with them and we know we can beat them,” Blues defenseman Charlie Huddy said. “We need to get fired up. It’s do or die and we’ve got to be ready for it.”

This marks the 17th time a Detroit team has gone to Game 7 of a playoff series, the 10th time in the history of the Blues. The Red Wings are 9-7 in such games; St. Louis is 5-5. But both Detroit and St. Louis have lost the last two times they were extended to a seventh game.

“We know what we have to do,” Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman said. “We haven’t won anything yet. We can’t rely on any one guy. We played as a team all season long, and that’s why we won.”

Frankly, the Red Wings might be reserving tee times already if it weren’t for the play of Yzerman. The team will need his heart and leadership more than ever in the showdown with the Blues, who have been a formidable opponent.

“Obviously, Steve’s been our most dependable player, both ways,” Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman said.

Yzerman has been in Detroit since 1982. He has played on some terrible teams and some talented teams. It was all the same. Yzerman and the city have nothing to show for any of it.

The Red Wings haven’t won a Stanley Cup championship since 1955. It is the longest such drought in the league. Something always seems to happen.

“You can never let your guard down,” forward Dino Ciccarelli said. “We can’t win the Stanley Cup in one night. We just have to win one game. If we do that, then we can move on.”

If they don’t, it will go down as one of the biggest upsets in NHL history. Detroit finished 51 points better than the Blues during the regular season. No team has ever been so superior to another, and then lost to the underdog in the playoffs.

At stake is a spot in the conference finals against the Colorado Avalanche. The Blues haven’t made it that far in a decade.

“We have to win one more game to work toward our goal of winning the Stanley Cup,” Yzerman said. “We haven’t accomplished anything yet until we win Game 7.”

Yzerman scored a hat trick in Game 3, but the Blues won it in overtime. That was the start of a three-game winning streak for St. Louis, all one-goal victories.

Fans in the Motor City were almost suicidal. Their whining made Blues coach Mike Keenan seem impassive by comparison. The media got into it, too, pointing fingers at Detroit’s Russian players, at Paul Coffey, at Keith Primeau, even at Yzerman.

“In the playoffs, everything gets magnified,” Yzerman said. “People are saying some guys are not producing, and pretty soon you get caught up in it.”

Needing a victory in Game 6 just to stay alive, Yzerman was all over the ice. He played defense. He played offense. He provided inspiration. But his finest moment may have come in the final minute.

Goals 59 seconds apart by Steve Leach and Brett Hull cut the Red Wings’ lead to 3-2 with 3:48 left in the third period. Suddenly the St. Louis fans were back into the game.

But Yzerman, on a line with Sergei Fedorov, made an absolutely stunning move along the left boards. He faked a shot, freezing the defense. Yzerman then threaded a pass across to Nicklas Lidstrom, who rifled home a slap shot from the point with 29 seconds to go.

“Anytime you’ve got a chance to finish the series and don’t it’s always a big disappointment,” Blues captain Wayne Gretzky said. “Especially after we came roaring back to win three in a row and we had so much momentum. It’s a tough loss, no question aboutit.”