DETROIT FREE PRESSWINGS WIN STANLEY CUP GAME 6: 3-2
Osgood as it gets: Once-backup goalie delivered when it mattered most
BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • June 5, 2008
PITTSBURGH -- He scared you, didn't he? When Chris Osgood allowed that goal with 87 seconds left, cutting the Red Wings' lead to 3-2, he had to scare you.
Never mind that the goal was off a carom, tough to stop. Never mind that it came on a power play after Jiri Hudler's hooking penalty. Never mind that logically, you had to like Osgood's chances with 87 seconds left.
Osgood scared you.
And when the Penguins had that last, ridiculous chance, with their net empty and the clock down to its final few seconds, and Marian Hossa honed in on Osgood ... well, Osgood had to give you one last scare then.
"They always have to go right to the bitter end," Osgood said. "I haven't seen Hudler yet, but I'm going to smack him when I see him. A two-goal lead, a hooking (penalty), we lose a stick ... everything that's not supposed to happen happened."
This is what you have to understand about Osgood: He was never scared. He is as calm and sure as the sunrise. Even afterward, when he had won the Stanley Cup for the second time as a starter, he had to convince reporters he was excited.
Maybe this was perfect for Osgood: Even his greatest postseason, a career-validating, critic-quieting Stanley Cup run, ended with a moment of relief before the fit of joy.
That is just how Osgood operates. He had a chance to win the Stanley Cup at home; instead, he gave up that goal with 35 seconds left. So he had to win it on the road. He had a chance at a 3-1 Cup-clinching win. Instead he let in a late goal.
Osgood was the best goalie in these NHL playoffs, statistically, but was never really the talk of the postseason. He had Conn Smythe numbers but did not win the Conn Smythe Trophy, which went (deservedly) to Henrik Zetterberg.
"We could have had two MVPs," Pavel Datsyuk said, "but only one MVP."
Story of Osgood's life.
Osgood has never been about perfection. He has never been the hero. He enables his teammates to be heroes.
But take a moment to salute Ozzie. Nobody can call him a Cup-winning fluke anymore. Take a moment to recognize that he was almost always the solution this spring -- and never really the problem.
Maybe the Wings needed him only to be very good instead of great. But what's wrong with being very good? That's not so easy. Ask Dominik Hasek.
And maybe the best you could say about Osgood in the deciding game was that he didn't fold.
But maybe that's a bigger compliment than we think.
"Whether it's a bad goal or bad break, whatever it may be, he's always been able to bounce back," longtime teammate Kirk Maltby said Wednesday morning. "As an athlete, that's the greatest strength that anybody could have: Being able to move on from whatever good or bad happens."
The Wings entered Game 6 knowing their goalie would not shake in his skates. They knew Osgood would not play Game 6 with Game 5 on his mind. That had to help the team move on.
The Wings are human, too. After Game 1 of the Cup finals, 39-year-old forward Dallas Drake admitted, "My heart was in my throat the beginning of the game."
Osgood's heart never seems to be in his throat. Until Monday night, the most famous goal Osgood ever allowed came in Game 5 of the 1998 Western Conference finals. Jamie Langenbrunner of Dallas sent a 90-foot shot over Osgood's stick in overtime. Langenbrunner was barely even trying to score. Yet he did.
What, Chris worry? He skipped the Wings' optional practice the next day. Instead, he stayed in the dressing room with a pair of scissors and paper, and put together a collage called "The evolution of Kris Draper."
It detailed Draper's physical development from potbellied coach potato in 1989 to muscular Wing in 1997, with cutouts of Draper's head pasted on various bodies. The last picture featured Draper with a big gut before training camp opened that fall.
The day after that, Osgood pitched a shutout to finish the series.
Osgood has always been the class cutup. Even at 35, he still looks like he could be a college senior, and he sure acts like he could be a college senior.
Osgood is the big man on campus now. And that's perfect, too.
Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or mrosenberg@freepress.com.
Penguins' Fleury isn't wilting from mission
By A.J. Perez, USA TODAY
DETROIT — Marc-Andre Fleury wore more than just a cap turned backward as the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie leaned back in his locker hours before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday.
The goalie also had a wide smile on, an expression that seemed an affront to the daunting task the Pittsburgh Penguins had ahead of them.
"I'm pretty relaxed right now," said the netminder known simply as "Flower," the English translation of the French word from which his last name is derived, to his teammates. "It may get a little tense at the beginning of the game. I think we're still confident. You never know what might happen."
And Fleury, 23, made it happen — often by himself — as the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in the third overtime. While Petr Sykora scored the game-winner, Fleury was most responsible for pushing the series to a sixth game. He received the No. 1 star after making 55 saves, 24 in overtime.
The goals he allowed came off a teammate's skate, a nearly indefensible deflection by Pavel Datsyuk, and a slap shot by Brian Rafalski through traffic.
Probably Fleury's most spectacular save of the playoffs occurred with 1:21 left in the second period when he did the splits to make a pad save on a point-blank shot by Red Wings forward Mikael Samuelsson. He nearly matched that with another save on a Samuelsson shot, this time with his outstretched glove six minutes into the third period.
Fleury's saves in overtime included stopping Kris Draper with a kick save and gloving a shot by Daniel Cleary in rapid-fire succession midway through the second overtime.
Saves like that were what Penguins fans expected when Pittsburgh made Fleury the No. 1 overall pick in 2003. The New York Islanders' Rick DiPietro, in 2000, was the only other goalie selected first overall.
But his bright yellow pads were as noticeable as his shaky play with the Penguins after he made his debut at 18 in 2003. He didn't have a goals-against average under 3.25 or a save percentage higher than .898 — both mediocre marks for a starting NHL goaltender — until last season.
This season didn't start off too well, either. Fleury was 9-8-1 before a high ankle sprain Dec. 6 put him out of the lineup for 28 games. Still, Fleury never lost support from his teammates or coach Michel Therrien, who re-inserted Fleury once he was activated. Fleury responded with a 10-2-1 record in his first 13 games back.
"If it wasn't for him, there's no way we'd have gotten to the point we're at now," defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "He's carried us through the latter part of the season and the playoffs."
Buffalo News
Stanley Cup notebook
Fleury’s big night brings back memories for Hasek
By John Vogl NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
Updated: 06/05/08 6:39 AM
PITTSBURGH — Marc-Andre Fleury became the toast of the Stanley Cup finals with his 55-save performance in Game Five. The praise reached such a fevered pitch before Game Six on Wednesday that former Montreal coach Jacques Demers compared the Pittsburgh goaltender to Hall of Famer Patrick Roy.
Fleury’s best save came in the second period, when he slid left to get a toe on Mikael Samuelsson’s two-on-one shot. But Fleury didn’t do anything that Dominik Hasek hasn’t done. In fact, he did less.
Hasek had one of the NHL’s best nights in the 1994 playoffs, stopping 70 shots to lead Buffalo to a 1-0, four-overtime victory over New Jersey.
“That’s a long time ago,” Hasek said with a huge grin Wednesday before the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup with a 3-2 win over the Penguins in Game Six. “You know what? From the whole game I remember one save.
“I made it on [Stephane] Richer. It was a very similar save to what he’d done in the second period on Samuelsson. It was a two-on-on one, weak passes, and I spread my legs and it was a very similar save. I made 70 saves, but I remember it 14 years later.”
Hasek wasn’t asked to make any stops during the finals. The Detroit goalie hadn’t played since Game Four of the Red Wings’ opening-round series with Nashville. Chris Osgood started Game Five, and did not the crease after that.
“When I signed with the Detroit Red Wings, it was my ultimate goal. Not only to play hockey but to win the Cup,” Hasek said. “I’m very excited definitely. I wish to be part of the team, not only on the bench but also on the ice, which of course I’m a little bit frustrated with. But like I said, our ultimate goal is to win the Cup, and tonight’s the night I hope.”
Hasek was 2-2 in the postseason, with a 2.91 goals-against average and .888 save percentage. But he was still very good in the regular season, going 27-10-3 with a 2.14 GAA and .902 save percentage. It may convince the 43- year-old to play on.
“I’m going to make final decision after the season,” Hasek said. “But definitely, I know I’m in great shape. I feel like I can play on the highest level.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment