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WINGS 3, 'CANES 0: Dominik Hasek's sixth playoff shutout puts his team one win from the title.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 11, 2002
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Whatever you do, don't call the Red Wings old.
It is true, of course. Detroit's average age of 30.6 is tied for oldest in the league.
But after a dominating 3-0 victory against the Hurricanes Monday in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final at the Entertainment and Sports Arena, more apt terms may be experienced or resilient.
One more victory and the Wings can also be called champions.
Detroit has a three-games-to-one lead and a chance to clinch its 10th title Thursday at Joe Louis Arena after a third consecutive victory and second in a row on the road.
"Age in today's game has zero to do with anything," right wing Brett Hull said. "You'd rather have a team with a solid mixture of veteran players because it's the way teams play now. You don't have to be swift or super-skilled anymore. All you have to do is be knowledgeable. I think we proved that."
Hull, 37, proved it by scoring the winner -- his 100th playoff goal -- 6:32 into the second period.
Goalie Dominik Hasek, 37, proved it by making 17 saves for his record sixth playoff victory of the season and has a shutout streak of 127:13.
Then there was center Igor Larionov, 41, who scored his third goal in two games to give Detroit a 2-0 lead early in the third period. And Scotty Bowman, at 68 the oldest coach in the league, who won a record 35th Cup game to pass Toe Blake.
Hull is the fourth player to score 100 postseason goals -- Wayne Gretzky had 122, Mark Messier 109 and Jari Kurri 106 -- and the only one who has not played for the Oilers.
"It's quite a group. I'm proud to be part of it," Hull said. "But if I get one or five, it doesn't matter as long as we win."
Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice, at 35 the league's youngest coach, must find a way to recapture the magic and momentum his team grabbed when it won the series' first game in Detroit.
He tried, to no avail, at the start of the second period by taking left wing Bates Battaglia away from center Rod Brind'Amour and Erik Cole on the BBC line, which scored 14 goals in its first 12 playoff games but one in its past 10. "We need a day to reset the emotional button and then we need a day to look at some different options," he said. "It's just so difficult for our team to move through the neutral zone right now to get it deep with any kind of forechecking pressure."
While the old men gave the Red Wings the biggest boost, the meshing of young and old was equally important.
Hull scored his league-high 10th goal of the playoffs off a cross-ice pass from 24-year-old Boyd Devereaux. Larionov scored off an assist from 21-year-old Jiri Fischer.
Everybody got in on Detroit's defensive effort. The Hurricanes were held to 17 shots (four in the third period, when they should have been most desperate) and went 0-for-2 on the power play. The Red Wings have killed 34 of 35 shorthanded situations in their past eight games.
"We had a hard time getting anything done," Maurice said, "and they played their best game of the series."
Being good also means being lucky, such as when Carolina's Ron Francis hit the post in the second period with his team down 1-0, missing an open net and watching the puck bounce squarely under a sprawling Hasek.
"He had an open net and I jumped, and I thought the puck was in the net," Hasek said. "It was a crucial situation. If the game was 1-1 it could have been a different situation."
The situation is in the Red Wings' hands.
"I think this is where experience does come into play," said Detroit left wing Brendan Shanahan, who scored in the third period. "The best thing for us to do is find a way to relax and rest the body."
After all, these guys are getting old.