Red Wings Take a Little Longer Than Usual : Hockey: Konstantinov’s goal in the second overtime gives Detroit a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

One more game stands between the Detroit Red Wings and an exorcism of sorts.

Forty years without a Stanley Cup title.

Twenty-nine years without playing in the finals.

It’s a team on a mission, and if takes a little longer, well, what’s an overtime period or two compared to four decades?

Actually, Vladimir Konstantinov thought the wait would be a little longer. His first playoff goal, with 9:35 played in the second overtime, gave the Red Wings a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks and put Detroit into a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

But he didn’t believe it.

Konstantinov beat Ed Belfour on a soft shot from inside the blue line, but he didn’t know until teammate Dino Ciccarelli told him.

“I just shot the puck and turned around to skate back to center,” said Konstantinov. “Dino grabbed me from behind and said, ‘You scored the goal.’ I said, ‘No, Dino, I don’t trust you.’ And he said, ‘You scored the goal.’ Then I was happy.”

Belfour was despondent. He lay face down on the United Center ice and didn’t move as his teammates tried to console him.

“We wouldn’t have been in the second overtime if it wasn’t for him,” Murray Craven said.

The play looked innocent enough, with Konstantinov gaining control at center ice, striding into Chicago’s zone and putting a soft wrist shot toward the net. But Belfour, who had made 46 saves and sparkled in the first overtime, barely got his blocker on the puck and the puck went into the back of the goal.

“I saw his reaction and I know it tore the guts out of him,” Detroit’s Stu Grimson, a former Blackhawk, said of Belfour, who wasn’t available for comment. “But if I know Eddie, he’s already turning up the juice for Game 4.”

That comes Thursday, when there is a chance to break a 29-year Red Wing streak.

From there, the 40 years without a Stanley Cup could well be in jeopardy for the team with the NHL’s best record this season.

It was the eighth consecutive Detroit victory in the playoffs--it is 11-1 overall--and the third in this round that the Red Wings have won by one goal.

The Red Wings had almost let it get away.

While Detroit was up, 3-2, sloppy play by defenseman Paul Coffey gave a goal to the Blackhawks with 11:27 to play in regulation. Coffey tried to lift a clearing pass, but Jeff Shantz gloved the puck, dropped it to the ice, skated between the circles and put a wrist shot over Mike Vernon’s glove.

Detroit had to play short another star, adding center Sergei Fedorov to the list of the injured when he crumpled to the ice 5:15 into the first overtime after getting hit high by Gerald Diduck.

It was not immediately known what the injury was, but Fedorov, last year’s league MVP and Detroit’s leading playoff scorer, didn’t return until the start of the second overtime.

Otherwise, the first overtime was a battle of goaltenders, with Belfour making 16 saves and Vernon eight.

Chicago’s Denis Savard and Primeau each scored a power-play goal in the first period. Savard tipped Chris Chelios’ shot from the point between Vernon’s pads at 7:23. At 18:31, Primeau scored on a rebound after Belfour stopped Nicklas Lidstrom from the point.

Bernie Nicholls’ first goal in 9 1/2 weeks gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead at 3:02 of the second period. Nicholls, who scored 22 goals in the first 32 games of the regular season, hadn’t scored since--a span of 29 games dating to March 31. The power-play goal came on a rebound of a shot by Gary Suter.

Detroit again came back, with Grimson scoring 2 1/2 minutes later at the end of a two-on-one break with Tim Taylor.

Vernon stopped Joe Murphy on a breakaway midway through the second period, and Detroit took a 3-2 lead on Coffey’s goal.