Detroit’s Mirror Has Much Better Reflection

DETROIT — This time, the Detroit Red Wings say, it will be different.

They aren’t the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this spring, as they have been the last few seasons, so there’s no one to disappoint.

Except themselves. And that may prove to be the strongest and best motivation of all.

Strength along the boards and faith in the face of adversity were their impetus Friday, when they rallied for a 2-1 overtime victory over the Mighty Ducks at Joe Louis Arena in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series. Displaying a resourcefulness they lacked in recent years, when they romped through the regular season but fell short in the playoffs, they may have their best chance to end a Cup drought that extends back to 1955.

“Being the front-runner hasn’t been good for us. Maybe we’ll just go in the back door,” winger Darren McCarty said.

They barged through two of the few openings the Ducks provided them to tie the score with less than nine minutes left in the third period and win it 59 seconds into overtime. Each goal was set up by a player they had acquired to give a rougher edge to a team that used to get rattled in physical games and was too easily frustrated by teams that played conservative styles, such as the Ducks.

On the tying goal, it was Tomas Sandstrom--obtained from Pittsburgh in January--who went wide on the right side and took the puck behind the net to set up Sergei Fedorov. And on the winner, winger Brendan Shanahan--acquired from Hartford in October--watched Martin Lapointe win a battle along the boards and darted left, into open ice, to create a two-on-one break after Lapointe lunged and fed him the puck. From there, it was an easy pass to Lapointe for a swift shot into an open right half of the net.

“Even though we were down, 1-0, we were pretty confident the bounces would go our way,” Lapointe said. “We were playing good and we were putting the puck on the net. We were hoping that would pay off.

“All you have to do is put the puck on the net. It doesn’t have to be a pretty shot. If we keep doing that, I think we can be successful.”

The Red Wings acknowledge they might have lacked the endurance to wait for those kinds of breaks in previous playoffs. If their high-tempo, slick-passing offense couldn’t break through, they often tried to force plays. They didn’t have the grinders to give them an option that so often proves so useful in close-checking games.

Those skill players carried them to an NHL-record 62 victories and their second successive overall point title but were largely stifled in the playoffs. As a team, the Red Wings disdained getting involved in combat along the boards or in the corners, where so many playoff goals originate.

That has changed this spring. In the playoffs they have showed they’ve learned to enjoy manufacturing goals out of almost nothing.

It’s impossible to picture them staging a rally like this a year ago, or other years they were considered favorites.

“The last couple of years, maybe not,” goaltender Mike Vernon said. “We got frustrated with New Jersey a couple of years ago [when they were swept in the 1995 Cup finals]. I think we’re a bigger, stronger hockey club up front and a faster hockey club. Yes, I think we’re a lot more patient.”

Said McCarty: “We’re a little bit bigger and we feel a lot grittier, with Tomas Sandstrom and Brendan Shanahan and Joe Kocur. We’re built more for the playoffs. We have finesse, but we also have grinders. Larry Murphy [acquired from Toronto in March] is an experienced defenseman and he really solidifies our defense. And Vernie’s stopping the puck. Those are the key ingredients we needed.”

It’s so much easier to skate when lofty expectations aren’t weighing you down. They were a better team statistically last season, but they show signs of being better prepared in so many other ways this spring.

“I think there’s a different sense. Certainly the importance is there but we’re no longer the front-runner, so it changes our own perspective and what we perceive from others,” winger Doug Brown said.

Said center Kris Draper: “Pressure always comes from the media, and this year the pressure comes from within. I think we have a good hockey club and can do some things.”

They did many things right Friday.