Red Wings’ Win Is for Aged

Before the Stanley Cup finals began, many expected the matchup between Detroit and Carolina would be a dull mismatch in favor of the Red Wings.

After three games, it has been anything but boring.

Igor Larionov, the oldest player on the ice, scored his second goal of the game with 5:13 remaining in the third overtime to give the Red Wings a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes Saturday in the third longest game in finals’ history.

In a game that ended at 1:18 Sunday morning Eastern Daylight Time, the veteran Red Wings outlasted the younger Hurricanes to take 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 18,982 at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.

“I have never been involved in a game this long,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said. “Both teams played as hard as they could.”

On his winning goal, Larionov, 41, picked up the puck near the neutral zone, made a couple fakes and then beat goaltender Arturs Irbe with a backhand shot.

“I’ve been in two finals and this is my first goal in the finals

Carolina was 74 seconds from a victory, but Detroit’s Brett Hull scored his ninth goal of the playoffs at 18:46 of the third period to send the game into overtime.

“It’s a real real tough loss, no question,” Carolina Coach Paul Maurice said. “We played a great game and there’s no fault on how we lost.... We tried to wear them out.”

Irbe finished with 50 saves for Carolina, which will host Game 4 on Monday. Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek had 41 saves.

It didn’t take long to tell that the Hurricanes meant business in Game 3, highlighted by a crushing open ice hit by defenseman Sean Hill on Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom.

However, the Hurricanes’ early aggressiveness came at a price; they picked up three penalties in the first 12 minutes. But the Red Wings failed to take advantage despite having three first-period power plays.

Carolina took the first lead of the game on a highlight play by forward Josef Vasicek, who had only two goals in 20 playoff games before Saturday. After the Hurricanes pressured Brendan Shanahan into a turnover in the Red Wings’ zone, Vasicek picked up the loose puck, eluded defenseman Steve Duchesne with a nifty move and beat Hasek at 14:49 of the first period to put Carolina ahead, 1-0, at 14:49.

“We couldn’t have asked for anything more than that, especially with the time we spent in the [penalty] box,” Hill said about the Hurricanes’ 1-0 lead after one period. “We continued to try and play on edge and it cost us a little bit.”

Detroit tied the score, 1-1, early in the second period when Larionov scored on a four-on-four. After Hill misplayed a puck in Carolina’s zone, Hull picked it up in the left corner and drilled it toward Larionov, who redirected it past Irbe at 5:43.

The Red Wings came close to taking their first lead of the game nearly five minutes into the third when Duchesne hit the right post with a shot from the blue line. But Carolina’s Jeff O’Neill didn’t miss when he had his chance.

With both teams skating a man short, Ron Francis made a perfect touch pass to O’Neill, who got behind Detroit defenseman Fredrik Olausson at the blue line and, from the left circle, beat Hasek high to his glove to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at 7:34.

That’s the way the score stood until 1:14 remained in regulation. With Bowman pulling out all the stops, Hull was able to fight off Hill and deflect Nicklas Lidstrom’s shot from the point to tie the score, 2-2.

The Red Wings dominated the first overtime with 11 shots on goal compared to only five for the Hurricanes. But despite having the better scoring chances, including a miss on an open net by Shanahan, Detroit failed to score.

Early in the second overtime, Detroit had another great chance to end the game, but this time Irbe stepped up to make a diving save on Steve Yzerman with less than four minutes left in the period. But after controlling the flow for much of the second overtime, the Red Wings seemed to tire.