9201150464
DETROIT FREE PRESS
920421
Tuesday, April 21, 1992
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO FINAL CHASER EDITION, Page 1D
Copyright (c) 1992, Detroit Free Press
WINGS DID ALL THEY COULD - EXCEPT WIN
I've seen heavyweight fights that go like this: One guy comes out on fire,
he slugs and pounds and gets the crowd all worked up. Pow! Pow! His fists are
flying, and his opponent takes every shot, the blood spitting from his face,
until he looks like he'll go down any moment -- which only excites the
aggressor more. Only the opponent doesn't go down. He stays standing. Blow
after blow. And finally, the first guy, exhausted from all this punching with
no reward, takes a breath, says, "Hey, what's with this lug?"
And pow! The other guy knocks him out.
It wasn't boxing Monday night at Joe Louis Arena. It might as well have
been. If the Red Wings had put any more sweat into that first period, they
would have been officially dehydrated, taken off on stretchers, given fluids
intravenously. What else are you supposed to do but rush the net, storm the
goalkeeper and pound the hell out of anybody near the boards?
What else?
Well, scoring would be nice.
But it didn't happen. Not enough. And in the few stolen moments that the
Red Wings took a breath Monday night, the Minnesota North Stars, a team which
must wear four-leaf clovers under their uniforms, got all they needed. This
is what they got: Four goals. Another win. A 2-0 lead in this first-round
playoff series.
And -- pow! -- a trip home for the next two games, with one skate on the
neck of the Red Wings.
The Wings got mad. But they didn't get even.
"The other night I could complain about effort, tonight I can't," coach
Bryan Murray said after the Wings' second straight home loss to the North
Stars, 4-2. "I have no apologies for the effort."
No. All he has is the final score. And some growling emotions.
Mad. But not even.
Give the North Stars some credit, too
Which is probably how most fans feel this morning, at least those who
expected the Norris Division champion should beat a team that barely qualified
for the playoffs. Those fans will be grumbling about holding penalties that
weren't called. Or the seemingly lucky bounce that helped score the Stars'
winning goal. Or the near misses the Wings had on shots near the Minnesota
net.
But it wouldn't be fair to say the Wings earned this game every minute
they were out there. At least it wouldn't be fair to Minnesota. The Wings
could barely win a face-off -- which is unforgivable if you're going to play
aggressive hockey. And while they got thrills from the power play, they got
no production.
In fact, the Wings' power play had as much trouble getting started as a
Florida car on an Alaska morning. Hey, somebody find the gas pedal on this
thing. Does it really take four Harlem Globetrotters weaves before you bring
the puck across the zone?
But OK. Having spit all that out, I'll also spit this: on another night,
this team is good enough to overcome those things.
But this was this night.
"During the course of the year, maybe you have a half-dozen games like
this where you play harder but you don't win," captain Steve Yzerman admitted.
"Does that make this defeat easier or tougher to take?"
"Neither."
Fair enough. Let's be clear. This was not Saturday night, when the Stars
played the aggressor. Nuh-uh. This was Detroit player smashing Minnesota
player into the boards, and Detroit player swarming the net and diving for
any loose puck. This was shots-on-goal Detroit 30, shots-on-goal Minnesota
20.
This was a loss?
It seems fitting that the Wings' final shot was a strong slap shot by
Nicklas Lidstrom that hit goalie Jon Casey in the pads -- without Casey seeing
it.
It is also fitting that the final shot by the North Stars was into an open
net.
Pow! Knockout.
Mad, but not even.
Everything's magnified in playoffs
In the locker room before Monday night's game, Murray was chuckling at
the way things change at playoff time. "We lose the first game, 4-3, and
everyone wants to know what's wrong?" he said, shaking his head. "It's
amazing."
That's true. But so is this: The season shrinks during the playoffs. One
game is like five, and two is like 10. Especially when you're going on the
road, against an opponent that came from nowhere last year and went all the
way to the Stanley Cup finals.
"Sure, I'm surprised," said Stars coach Bob Gainey. "I never said to
myself, 'Hey, we'll drop into Detroit, stay a few days, and win two games.' "
Great. Sarcasm.
Well. How else do you look at a night like this? There is no reason to
think the Wings can't still win this series. They still have the better team,
if you ask me. And they know how to win on the road. Sure, you would have to
say odds are against them now, having to go into a foreign arena and win some
games.
Then again, isn't that what they were saying about Minnesota a few days
ago?
"It's true, you have games like this during the regular season," goalie
Tim Cheveldae admitted, with a sigh, "the only difference is, you're going
against a clock now."
Mad, but not even.
And the season just got shorter.
HOCKEY; DREDWINGS; MINNESOTA;Red Wings