Iced...and Burned

DETROIT — Scotty Bowman is known for his aloofness and for owning a wealth of technical knowledge unequaled among NHL coaches. Yet, when he prepared the Detroit Red Wings for their second shot at defeating the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals, he resorted to sentiment--and that proved the best tactic of all.

Bowman told his players before Game 6 that life doesn’t often give you second chances and they must seize this with gusto. It struck the right emotional chord, inspiring them to a 42-shot attack in a 3-1 victory Monday that launched them into the finals for the second time in three years.

The Red Wings, whose 42-year Cup drought is the NHL’s longest, will open the finals Saturday at Philadelphia.

“I told the team that in today’s hockey, it’s so hard to get through to the finals, they would rue the day if they didn’t play the game of their lives. I’m sure in some cases, that’s what happened,” said Bowman, who will make his 11th appearance in the finals as a coach. “When you’re my age and you look back and say you didn’t show up for this game, you’ll never forgive yourself.”

The Red Wings showed up for this game in force and can proceed without regrets, except for their baffling 6-0 loss at Denver in Game 5. “[Bowman] pumped me up today. He got me going,” said left wing Brendan Shanahan, whose empty-net goal with 29.8 seconds to play sent the crowd of 19,983 at Joe Louis Arena into a pompom-waving frenzy. “It was great looking [Avalanche players] in the eye afterward. They’re a great team and it wouldn’t have meant so much to us if we didn’t respect them so much as a team.”

The Red Wings pressured Colorado’s defense, outshooting the Avalanche, 30-8, through two periods. That they scored only once, on a blistering slap shot by Martin Lapointe from the left circle that almost ripped off Patrick Roy’s glove at 3:29 of the first period, was a testimony to Roy’s excellence.

But Colorado was living on borrowed time, and knew it. “Patrick kept us in the game and gave us a chance to steal one, but you can’t, at this time of year, try to steal games,” Coach Marc Crawford said.

At this time of year, victories are earned, not stolen. The Red Wings earned theirs Monday when Sergei Fedorov, who missed most of the first period and half of the second after injuring his side, took a clever pass from Vyacheslav Kozlov and batted the puck past Roy on his second attempt, at 6:11 of the third period. The Avalanche cut the lead to 2-1 at 14:48 of the third period, when Scott Young converted the rebound of a shot by Adam Deadmarsh, but Shanahan’s goal quashed the faintest glimmer of hope Colorado had of extending the series to a seventh game.

“It’s one thing to lose playing your best, but the toughest thing is we didn’t play up to our potential,” said Avalanche captain Joe Sakic, the most valuable player in last year’s Cup run. “They had the hunger.”

Hunger, character--it’s what the Red Wings lacked last year, when they had the NHL’s best record but lost to the Avalanche in a bitter conference final. That series was marred by an ugly hit by Colorado right wing Claude Lemieux that left Detroit center Kris Draper with massive facial injuries, but this go-round was tame except for the brawl that marredGame 4. The Avalanche couldn’t put up a good fight in any sense.

“The Red Wings were by far the better team in this series,” said Crawford, who shook Bowman’s hand despite railing at him in Game 4 and earning a $10,000 fine. “They played with a lot of intensity, a lot of desire. Ultimately, they wore our team down. . . .

“You have to first and foremost have the intensity and desire. The Red Wings showed that from moment one to moment 60.”

They showed it against St. Louis in the first round, learning how to manufacture goals with grinding when finesse didn’t work. They showed it again against the Mighty Ducks, relying on their superior depth and the surprisingly strong goaltending of Mike Vernon. And they showed it against Colorado, again a surprise.

Less was expected of them this season because their 38-26-18 record ranked only fifth in the league, but they’ve done more than they dared hope. They’re also more appreciative of the chance to play for the Cup, which eluded them in 1995 when they were swept by the New Jersey Devils.

“After what I went through and the team went through, it was definitely a sweet win,” said Draper, who ignored Lemieux’s outstretched hand on the traditional handshaking line. “A lot of people doubted us and we showed we were the better team and we’re for real.”