Friday, June 14, 2002
Scores favor Hurricanes; Outcome doesn't
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
DETROIT — Carolina got the Stanley Cup finals it was looking for — low scoring with some one-goal games. But the Hurricanes didn't count on Detroit being able to play so well in such close quarters as the Red Wings won 3-1 Thursday night to clinch their third title in six years.
“There is no good way to lose,” coach Paul Maurice said. “There never is.”
How well did Carolina's close-checking system work?
Well, the Red Wings, with nine almost-certain Hall of Famers, became the first team since 1952 to win the Stanley Cup and not have at least one four-goal game in the finals. They scored 14 goals in five games against Carolina's defensive system.
That was little consolation to Carolina, which was making its first appearance in the Cup finals against a team with a $64 million payroll — twice as much as its own.
“This series was a lot closer than it ended up,” general manager Jim Rutherford said just feet from the ice where the Red Wings were carrying around hockey's most prized possession. “We got beat by a great team, but I thought we represented ourselves well. We could of gotten some breaks and it might have been different.”
The series was either tied or at a one-goal margin 93 percent of the time heading into Game 5, and there was more of the same with Carolina on the brink of elimination.
When Jeff O'Neill scored his eighth goal of the playoffs with 1:10 left in the second, it closed Detroit's lead to 2-1 and sent all five of the games into the third period either tied or with one team ahead by one.
O'Neill's goal also broke Carolina's power-play drought, which was 1-for-21 coming in, and broke its scoreless streak of 166 minutes against Dominik Hasek, who didn't give the Hurricanes much after losing Game 1 3-2 in overtime.
The goal allowed the Hurricanes to settle back into their defensive system for the third period and wait for an opportunity to send the game into overtime and delay Detroit's party.
But there was to be no more extra hockey for the Hurricanes this time, despite a brilliant final stand by goalie Arturs Irbe.
Detroit scored less than 10 seconds after Irbe was pulled for an extra attacker as Sean Hill fell to the ice and stayed on his back for 10 seconds as the Red Wings celebrated just feet from him.
“We didn't work all season long and all the playoffs to come close,” captain Ron Francis said. “It hurts.”
After winning the opener in the series, Carolina dropped four straight. It was just the second four-game losing streak of the season. The other one came in late November when Maurice's job was on the line.
After switching the slumping Sami Kapanen to the team's second line in Game 4, Maurice dropped him to the third line Thursday night, reuniting the BBC line and sending 22-year-old rookie Jaroslav Svoboda to the top threesome with Francis and O'Neill.
The move appeared to give the Hurricanes more jump then they had in a 3-0 loss Monday in Raleigh, N.C., despite being outshot 12-5 in the first period and not scoring.
But Carolina survived the opening 20 minutes, mostly on the play of Irbe and some luck. Luc Robitaille hit the post less than six minutes in, and Irbe stoned Sergei Fedorov on a breakaway late in the period after defenseman Bret Hedican fell down at the blue line.
Maurice has tried to work his fourth line in against the talented Red Wings, but it cost him early in the second when that unit got caught on the ice against Igor Larionov's line and Tomas Holmstrom put Detroit up 1-0.
And in the end, Carolina's system just didn't stack up against a talented group of players like it did in series wins over New Jersey, Montreal and Toronto en route to the franchise's first Eastern Conference title.
“They are a great team, they're deep, they have a ton of skill, a lot of playoff experience and you just don't rattle that team,” Francis said.
But did Carolina gain any respect with its run to the Cup finals?
“The guys in our locker room really enjoy each other and that's what matters to us,” Aaron Ward said. “Everybody played for each other. If we haven't earned respect by now we're not going to get it.”
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Scores favor Hurricanes; Outcome doesn't
