8701220981
DETROIT FREE PRESS
870508
Friday, May 08, 1987
METRO FINAL CHASER
1F
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1987, Detroit Free Press
THE GIANT WAS AWAKENED, BUT RED WINGS DIDN'T RUN
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Sometimes it comes down to the last minute. And
sometimes the first minute is enough. Before 60 seconds were gone in
Thursday's bloody playoff game between the Red Wings and the Oilers, four
players were in the penalty box, all the others wore angry scowls, and Mark
Messier had skated the length of the ice, past two Red Wings defenders, and
whacked a shot into the Detroit net on his team's very first try.
The giant had awakened. This was not going to be the Edmonton of Game 1, no
matter the outcome. The sleepwalking that had plagued this "best of the best"
squad in Tuesday night's 3-1 defeat was gone now, and so was the lethargy
that had swallowed the crowd in the Northlands Coliseum. There was noise.
There was anger. There was fighting one minute, then the next, then the next.
The giant had awakened.
By the time five minutes had elapsed, goalie Greg Stefan must have felt
like the silhouettes policemen use for target practice. Bullets? Whew! He'd
been fired on constantly, some deadly accurate shots, and enough centering
passes to make the score 20-0 had they connected. Meanwhile, the Red Wings
were scattering, playing with a sense of desperation that was never seen in
Game 1.
Here, in the first period, was the Edmonton that had earned the best record
in hockey this season. They went through the Red Wings like a bull through a
fence. Even shorthanded they were dominant, Wayne Gretzky dancing across the
ice like some kind of waterbug on skates, eluding Detroit players and knocking
precious seconds off the clock, and at one point, dishing off on a perfect
breakaway for an easy goal by Jari Kurri and a 2-0 lead. Shorthanded? This
team in full motion would need to be down three players to really be
shorthanded.
"They're the Oilers tonight," someone said.
The giant had awakened.
New badge of courage
But then something strange happened. Here was the perfect time for the Red
Wings to cave in, to admit they were overmatched, to figure Game 1 was a
lucky break and bow to the superiority of Gretzky, Kurri, Messier and company
-- just as the media up here had been telling them to do all week -- to go
home with no more than the sting of words like "Hey, what do you want? It's
the Edmonton Oilers. That's what's supposed to happen."
Instead, the Wings earned a new badge of courage. They came out for the
second period fighting, literally and figuratively -- Steve Chiasson was
banished for 17 minutes worth of penalties for a brawl with Steve Smith -- and
something surged. The hearts pumped faster, and slowly, gradually, the Red
Wings cooled the Edmonton fire until it was under control, then managed to put
in a goal of their own, a sneaky one, a rebound by Bob Probert that barely
crossed the goal line. Stefan became a brick in the net, and it was 2-1 when
the horn blew, and everyone in Detroit exhaled.
Perhaps they knew: right there the Wings had accomplished something that
counted, regardless of the outcome. They had played even, maybe better than
even, with the best. Remember the second game of the Edmonton-Los Angeles
playoff, after the Oilers had been upset in Game 1? What was the score? 13-3?
That was chest-beating by the Oilers, the giant waking up. LA never won
another game. But the Red Wings are not the Kings, they are not pretenders,
and if there was any doubt about that in the minds of the Oilers, it is gone
now.
The game may have been lost, 4-1, but the Wings are coming home with
something important.
War in the benches
In the third period, a shot by Mark Kumpel that would have tied this game
at 2-2 hit the post. "It happens," said Jacques Demers afterward, but he knew
that was a turning point. Edmonton followed with a Mark Messier breakaway goal
-- "we were as scared of him as we are of Gretzky," Demers admitted -- and an
open-net goal in the final minute sealed it.
But, OK. If Game 1 was a stray bullet that found a heart, then Game 2 was
war, real and ugly. At one point, Esa Tikkanen checked Gilbert Delorme over
the boards -- over the boards! -- and into the Oilers bench, and no penalty
was called. No penalty? It could only be warfare.
"They will not run the Red Wings like that in Game 3," said Demers, "I
guarantee you."
In Game 1, the Wings had the emotional advantage, the lack of rust, and the
intense motivation to prove they belonged.
Thursday night, it was the Oilers with more to prove. They did not want to
be embarrassed twice in their own building. They came out strong. They came
out fast. But they did not step on anybody.
The giant had awakened, and evened the score.
But the Red Wings did not flinch.
This should be a hell of a series.
COLUMN;DREDWINGS;Red Wings