Red Wings, Blues Can Do No More

When the Detroit Red Wings trailed the St. Louis Blues, 3-2, in their quarterfinal playoff series and their record-setting season was on the verge of ending short of the Stanley Cup, center Steve Yzerman guaranteed the teams would return to Joe Louis Arena tonight for a seventh game.

He was right--and he played a key role in making sure of that.

Thanks to Yzerman, who had an assist and bolstered Detroit’s defense by hurling his body at shots, the Red Wings earned a series-tying 4-2 victory Tuesday in St. Louis. That made this series the first to go the limit.

“We did what we had to do,” said Yzerman, Detroit’s top playoff scorer with 16 points. “But we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”

However, they appear to have the upper hand playing at home, where they set a club record and tied an NHL record by winning 36 games this season. They won the first two games of this series but lost Game 5, 3-2.

The Blues’ experience--they have won a collective 33 Stanley Cups and Coach Mike Keenan coached the New York Rangers to the 1994 championship--is one of their best assets. Goalie Jon Casey, who excelled in the third, fourth and fifth games, was mediocre Tuesday and gave the puck away to set up Detroit’s crucial second goal. Casey has a 3.15 goals-against average and an .896 save percentage.

Keenan was most upset about his team’s lack of emotion and the officiating. Afterward, he cornered Dave Newell, the supervisor for the series, to complain that referee Dan Marouelli didn’t penalize Detroit’s Darren McCarty for colliding with Casey in the crease during the first period.

“We have to have a better start [tonight] and come out with a lot more determination,” Keenan said. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t find that inner passion to come out with that type of intensity that you would expect.

“If we don’t have that kind of passion and determination, it would be unlikely that we’ll have much success [in Detroit] because with the exception of Game 1 in their arena, they’ve played a very hard, strong first period.”

The Red Wings lost defenseman Bob Rouse, who suffered a broken bone over his right eye after being hit by a puck Tuesday.