Suddenly, It’s Become a Season on the Brink for the Red Wings

Their spectacular season means nothing now, their NHL-record 62 victories and league-leading 131 points all but forgotten.

The Detroit Red Wings are one loss from being victims of perhaps the greatest upset in Stanley Cup playoff history, and they don’t understand how they have slid to the edge of this precipice.

“It makes you feel sick really,” Red Wing goalie Chris Osgood said Sunday, after the St. Louis Blues withstood a 39-shot Detroit attack to grab a 3-2 victory at Joe Louis Arena and take a 3-2 lead in their quarterfinal series.

The Blues, whose 32-24-16 record left them 51 points behind the Red Wings this season, can advance to the Western Conference finals Tuesday at the Kiel Center, where they are 5-0 in the playoffs. A seventh game, if necessary, would be Thursday at Detroit.

“We’re playing well. We’re not struggling,” said Osgood, who faced 21 shots Sunday. “We just can’t get a break. We’re right there. The last three games, it’s one play, one break, one bounce that’s been hurting us.”

One play--like Yuri Khmylev’s steal from defenseman Marc Bergevin. He tipped the puck to Wayne Gretzky, who passed to Brett Hull for the Blues’ first goal at 5:15 of the first period.

One break, like Mike Hudson--playing for the first time since he injured his neck April 3--sliding the puck to Hull before taking a thunderous hit from Red Wing defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov. Hull found Gretzky in front of the net for a wrist shot at 18:46 of the second period, which gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead.

One bounce, like the shot by Khmylev that deflected off the skate of Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and past Osgood at 9:11 of the third period for St. Louis’ final goal.

“We didn’t figure it would be any cakewalk,” Red Wing defenseman Paul Coffey said. “There are good teams left out there. We’ve got to find a way to get it done. We have to, or we’re done.”

Bombarding St. Louis goalie Jon Casey isn’t getting the job done for the Red Wings, who took 13 shots in each period. Their only success came at 3:05 of the second period, after Casey came a few feet out of his net and Kris Draper sent the puck between his legs to tie the game at 1, and at 10:23 of the third period, when a shot by Vyacheslav Kozlov threaded its way through a crowd.

Despite the cheers of the sellout crowd of 19,983, the Blues held on to win their third consecutive game and complete a stunning turnaround from their 3-2 and 8-3 losses in the first two games here.

“It’s like boxing, where one guy is hammering the other guy and the guy who’s being hammered gets one counter punch and boom, the first guy is down,” Detroit winger Darren McCarty said.

The Blues’ defense has been their best weapon against the Red Wings, who had the NHL’s best goals-against average this season. The Blues are limiting the rebounds Casey must face and have largely silenced the Red Wings’ skillful Russian players by giving them little skating room. Offensively, the Blues are benefitting from a resurgence by Gretzky, who had no goals in his first 10 playoff games but now has goals in two consecutive games and six points in the series.

“In the Toronto [first-round] series I was getting some chances and they weren’t going in, so my confidence dwindled,” Gretzky said. “I feel much better now playing with Brett and I’m getting more chances. Other than that [8-3 loss in Game 2] we’ve been solid defensively as a team.”

Said Hull: “We never really changed anything. We just stuck to our guns and said, ‘You either want to win or you don’t want to win. We could fold our tents or fight back.’ I don’t think anybody gave us a hope in hell of being in this situation. You’ve got to tip your hat to everybody, from Mike Hudson, who was out a couple of months, to Jon Casey.”

The Blues, while confident, were careful to avoid complacency. “We’re playing a very proud hockey club with a great tradition and we’ve got a tough one ahead of us,” Coach Mike Keenan said. “If we want to be successful, we have to continue to play well defensively.”

Said Coffey: “This is the first time since last year’s finals [when they were swept by the New Jersey Devils] that we’ll be in a do or die situation. We’ve got to find a way to get it done, and I’m confident we will.”