9805180277
DETROIT FREE PRESS
980518
Monday, May 18, 1998
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1998, Detroit Free Press
FUHR MAKES HIS STAND; WILL WINGS MAKE THEIRS?
One shot, by Brendan Shanahan, came so hard into his chest, it lifted him into
the air. Another, by Martin Lapointe, was strong enough to leave an
indentation in his stomach. Darren McCarty got so close with his stick he
could have sliced him like corned beef -- chop-chop-chop -- but despite his
many jabs, McCarty could not put the puck where he wanted. The goalie was all
over it.
Grant Fuhr is many things, but he is not forgettable. You cannot come out as
if he isn't there, you cannot play his team and figure "no problem," not Grant
Fuhr, no way, I don't care how big a series lead you have. The Red Wings
learned that the hard way Sunday, a warm, sunny day in which the sellout crowd
came to witness victory, not competition. What the fans got was something
different. What they got was a legend in the pipes, and a chance down the
tubes.
Wish Grant-ed. Remember that the Blues had played below par in St. Louis, and
left their arena to the sound of boos. All they wanted Sunday was a different
end to their seasonal story. They didn't want the boos echoing into the
summer, haunting their golf bags, staining their beers. The Wings were playing
for the series. The Blues were playing for a game.
Wish Grant-ed. You can talk all you want about a Red Wings letdown, but the
fact is, if Fuhr isn't in net, Detroit is already studying Dallas Stars game
film. Fuhr was the difference early Sunday -- when the Wings came out and
peppered him with four fast shots in the first five minutes -- and he was the
difference late, when Detroit pulled the stops in a desperate attempt to crack
his veneer.
He is the reason there are bags being packed and hotel rooms booked this
morning.
He cannot be overlooked.
"Being dead and gone doesn't work for me," Fuhr said after the Blues' 3-1
victory on Sunday, in which he stopped 29 of 30 shots, many of them good
enough for goals on other goalies. "I have never been good at losing, and I
have no interest in learning how to be good at it now."
Fire up the plane.
No rattling the goalie
This doesn't mean the Wings are doomed. It doesn't mean the Blues have even
one more victory in them. It simply means that hockey games can be won or lost
by goalie performances, and Fuhr was not in a losing mode Sunday. I thought
the Wings had plenty of chances. Thirty shots from this group is usually worth
more than one goal. And you can't fault their power-play opportunities. They
had nine of those. Didn't score once. In fact, their only goal came on a
shorthanded pass from Steve Yzerman to Lapointe, a wham-bam play that Fuhr had
no chance to stop.
Otherwise, he was a barn door. There were slap shots by Nick Lidstrom that
Fuhr denied with his stick, the clack of wood so loud you could hear it in the
upper rows of Joe Louis Arena. There were several whack-aways of Sergei
Fedorov, who has been the hottest shot in the NHL this month. There were a few
sure things by Shanahan that Fuhr somehow derailed, as well as the great
third-period stop on McCarty when he was within spitting distance on Fuhr's
right.
"Look, we have a lot of proud guys here," Fuhr said in the locker room
afterward. "We didn't like the way we went out (in Game 4). I wasn't very good
in that game. And I don't like to have two bad games in a row."
When Fuhr says that, you must pay attention. This is a goalie with five
Stanley Cup rings in his safe. He is seemingly ageless. Sunday was his 86th
career playoff victory. That's right. He has more postseason victories than
there are games in a regular-season schedule. His 86th?
"Do you ever get rattled anymore?" someone asked him.
"Rattled," said Fuhr, 35, smiling, "is not a word I use in playoff time."
So Dallas gets more rest
Now it is up to the Wings to prove the same thing. In their favor is a recent
history of playing well when they have to. That's not a problem. It's when
they don't have to that sometimes trips them up.
"We just didn't have the extra push today," said Wings goalie Chris Osgood.
"You could see it right from the start. We went out there hoping to win,
trying to get a 'hope' win. They went out and did it."
Call it desperation. Call it inevitability (did we really think the Blues
would lose four in a row?). I'd call it all of the above, with the goalie to
make it happen. Had the Wings scored even once in the early going, the emotion
of this game would have been much different.
Instead, thanks to Fuhr -- and some strong defense in front of him, led by
Chris Pronger -- the Wings have another flight, another game and another ledge
to walk out on. Even if they win Tuesday night, they will have paid a price
for Sunday. At this stage, you don't want any more wear and tear than you
need. One more road trip, one more game's worth of potential injuries -- it
all takes its toll down the playoff road. The next-round opponent, Dallas, is
already in the clubhouse, resting, watching, waiting.
Nothing you can do about it. The Blues have pride as well. It's up to the
Wings to attack Fuhr now, lay their best game out on the ice, and make sure
pride doesn't turn to punishment.
To leave a message for Mitch Albom, call 1-313-223-4581.
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