Larionov Still Amazing Them

Grueling. Demanding. Exhausting. Tiring.

Those are some of the words that best describe Saturday night’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. The veteran Detroit Red Wings outlasted Carolina with a three-overtime, 3-2 victory over the younger Hurricanes in the third-longest game in finals history.

Less than 15 hours after the five-hour game ended, the main topic of conversation was Detroit’s ageless wonder Igor Larionov, who at 41 was the oldest player on the ice. Larionov scored the game-winner with his second goal of the game.

“He knows his game,” Detroit winger Darren McCarty said. “He always preaches patience, and I think last night’s goal is a classic example. I think most of us would have shot it, but not Igor. I think most people thought he was going to pass ... but he was patient enough to wait out the defensemen, and he waited until the goaltender went down, and he ho-hummed it to the top of the net.”

Just that Larionov is still playing is a story itself. At 21, Larionov began playing on the Central Red Army team and played eight seasons for the elite Russian team.

He was selected the Soviet player of the year once and picked to the first-team all-stars four times. He won Olympic gold medals with the Soviet Union in 1984 and 1988, and he won gold at the 1983 World Championships.

Larionov did not make the jump to the NHL until 1991 but he doesn’t regret that it took so long.

“I started to play in big [events] like [the] Canada Cup in ‘81; that was my first official tournament ‘81,” Larionov said. “We played against Team Canada in the finals, when Scotty Bowman was the coach with Team Canada.

“First time I came over to North America, I was very impressed by the people and the game itself. I was dreaming to play in the National Hockey League, but that time, ‘81, was Cold War and invasion to Afghanistan, so it wasn’t possible. I didn’t want to leave my family and my parents, and my teammates.”

“I spent eight seasons with the Red Army and had huge accomplishments there with my teammates and team. When Gorbachev took over in ‘85, the doors finally started to open up and we had a chance to play. Most of the guys who I played with, three or four years older than me, didn’t have the chance because they retired age 30, 31.”

Larionov had stops with Vancouver and San Jose before he arrived in Detroit, two months before he turned 35.

He played five seasons with the Red Wings, including championship teams in 1997 and 1998, before leaving as an unrestricted free agent to sign with Florida in 2000.

But Larionov never fit in with the Panthers and the Red Wings made a trade to bring him back to Detroit on Dec. 28, 2000.

“I thought it was a big mistake when [the Red Wings] didn’t offer him a contract or whatever it was,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said. “[Larionov] was pretty miffed about it. I don’t blame him. But I wasn’t doing the contracts at that time. I am glad I wasn’t.

“Fellows like Steve Yzerman knew what he was like, and [that] we were missing him ... We were fortunate to get him back. He has been a great player for this organization ever since we got him from San Jose.”

After scoring the biggest goal of his career, Larionov got up early Sunday morning to watch Russia lose to Japan in the World Cup and the riot that followed in downtown Moscow.

“I was really disappointed,” said Larionov, who spoke to his parents in Russia after the soccer disturbance. “I went to bed at 5 and got up at 8:15 to watch the second half, and we lost.

“It’s a democracy now in Russia. Twelve years ago, we didn’t have big screen TVs in downtown Moscow ... I am not like blaming democracy, don’t get me wrong, I like that and I came to this country because I liked freedom. But sometimes, people watching hockey games, soccer matches; they go wild. I don’t think it’s good for the society

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According to Detroit’s Brett Hull, who scored the tying goal to send Game 3 into overtime, the Red Wings’ veteran players were the difference Saturday.

“Youth and enthusiasm will take you only so far,” said Hull, who scored the game-winning goal in the second-longest game in finals history when Dallas defeated Buffalo in Game 6 in 1999. “But if you look at the people that are mixed in with it, [Pavel] Datsyuk, [Boyd] Devereaux, [Kris] Draper and [Kirk] Maltby, McCarty, they are not old guys. You also have [Mathieu] Dandenault and [Jiri] Fischer on defense. It’s such a nice mix of age with inexperience and enthusiasm and I think that really helps us when you are in a tight situation.”

Hull gives a lot of credit to Yzerman’s leadership.

“When he talks, it’s like he’s about to fall asleep,” Hull said. “He’s so calm, but he’s so [powerful]. His words just ring loud with everything he says, and I mean, it’s a huge help for the whole group.”