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Tuesday, April 23, 2002

From wire dispatches

Detroit fans have earned a reputation as some of the most knowledgeable, passionate and devoted in North America, but their loyalty has its limits.

And the Red Wings apparently went well beyond them by losing Games 1 and 2 of their first-round playoff series against Vancouver at Joe Louis Arena.

The crowd became particularly unpleasant during Detroit's 5-2 loss in Game 2, jeering goalie Dominik Hasek and admonishing the Red Wings to "shoot the puck," a chant heard at Mellon Arena once or twice over the years.

Most of the Detroit players took the fans' behavior in stride -- "When they told us to shoot the puck, we finally started scoring," left winger Luc Robitaille said -- but after the Red Wings arrived in Vancouver before their 3-1 victory in Game 3 Sunday, right winger Brett Hull offered a typically candid assessment of the situation.

"That's disappointing," he said. "Those are the people you need the most and ... expect to be with you. When they turn on you it's just kind of like, 'OK, we'll stick it up theirs.' ... I guess they can pay the money so they can do whatever they want, but as a group, we're disappointed in that. ...

"It's really disappointing especially when they get on Dom, who has played so fantastic for them all year. ... Hopefully we can come in and take a couple here and go back home ... and we won't listen to them then, either."

Should the Red Wings find a way to win Game 4 tonight at GM Place, they will regain control of the series and, it's safe to assume, silence those hostile voices in their home rink. And, as Coach Scott Bowman pointed out, beating the other team is the only way to guarantee support from the fans.

"I don't think the crowd has to be silent," Bowman said. "The only way you silence the crowd is with performance. You don't do it by trying to bad-mouth them. They're paying big money to watch their team win, and it hasn't won [at home]. I don't think there's anything derogatory about that."

Writers' pet

Toronto's Bryan McCabe has developed into a pretty fair defenseman since breaking into the league with the New York Islanders in 1995, and he's becoming a go-to guy for reporters, too.

McCabe was an integral part in one of the many ill-conceived moves Mike Milbury has made as general manager of the Islanders -- Milbury sent McCabe, left winger Todd Bertuzzi and a third-round draft choice to the Canucks for center Trevor Linden in 1998 -- and had a quick response when informed that Milbury had said he wished he could "have a mulligan" on that trade.

"I'm sure he wishes he could have a few of those, with some of the deals he's made," McCabe said.

McCabe has been credited with a team-high nine hits during the first two games of the Maple Leafs' series with the Islanders, including a hip check that sent Islanders forward Jason Blake sprawling in Game 1.

McCabe's analysis of that hit: "It helps to have a fat butt to do that."

Tkachuk's new role

St. Louis left winger Keith Tkachuk is known as one of the NHL's premier power forwards. And if he isn't careful, he might end up with a reputation as one of its top playmakers, too.

Tkachuk had two assists during the Blues' 4-0 victory against Chicago in Game 3 Sunday at the United Center, first working a give-and-go with Scott Mellanby, then setting up Pavol Demitra with a cross-crease feed.

"He's in a situation where opponents obviously are concentrating a lot on him," Mellanby said. "Those were two of the best passes I've ever seen him make. He's playing extremely well. He draws a lot of attention and he made some great plays."

Tkachuk, though, isn't going to ask Blues Coach Joel Quenneville to rewrite his job description.

"I don't want to be a playmaker," he said. "We got some nice bounces and made some lucky plays. The key is driving to the net. Good things happen when the puck goes to the net. And when you play with two capable guys, good things happen."

Offensive outburst

Boston was a stingy defensive team throughout the regular season, while a lack of offense was supposed to be Montreal's undoing during the first round of the playoffs.

As it is, the Canadiens earned a split of the first two games at the FleetCenter, depositing nine pucks in the Bruins' net in the process.

"It's not like us," Boston goalie Byron Dafoe said. "We've been so good defensively all year. You have to give them credit. They're finding ways to penetrate the zone and cause havoc down there.

"It's not like they're coming in on odd-man rushes and just having their way. It's cycles. It's hard work. It's getting us out of position and having a point man open and crashing the net."

From hero to goat

Vancouver goalie Dan Cloutier, who probably is the main reason the Canucks grabbed a 2-0 lead against Detroit, might prove to be the guy who cost his team a chance to upset the Red Wings.

Cloutier failed to stop a shot from the far side of the red line by Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom with 24.6 seconds remaining in the second period of Game 3, giving the Red Wings a 2-1 lead and some badly needed momentum that might have saved them from facing a 3-0 deficit.

"It was a shot from far out and it beat me," Cloutier said. "What else can I say? It happens to the best of them, and it happened to me. If I don't let that in, it might be a different game."

And, quite possibly, a different series, because even a team with Detroit's talent and experience couldn't be expected to run off four victories in a row. Now, the Red Wings can view the start of the Vancouver series as nothing more than a bout of adversity every team goes through during the playoffs.

"You just know you're going to face this situation," Detroit captain Steve Yzerman said. "Colorado faced it last season. It's a game you have to absolutely win or you don't go on."

Official reasoning

Lots of factors contributed to Carolina's 4-0 loss to New Jersey in Game 3 of that first-round series. Everything from a lackluster performance by goalie Arturs Irbe, who had been brilliant in Games 1 and 2, to the way the Devils elevated their physical play.

One thing that wasn't particularly obvious, but whose impact the Hurricanes felt could not be ignored, was the way that failed to adapt to the way referees Dan Marouelli and Bill McCreary called the game. Consequently, New Jersey was awarded seven power plays, and converted on three of them.

"This is not a complaint, because we took some undisciplined penalties, but it was a lot more difficult read, in terms of the standards of what was called," Carolina Coach Paul Maurice said. "[The standard] was a lot higher [in Game 3] than it was in the first two games.

"We had a real hard time with that, and we ended up in the penalty box more than we needed to, and we can't. There's no flow, there's no rhythm, there's no jump when we do that."

Not many victories, either.

Quinn spooked

Tonight's game won't be the most important one Pat Quinn of Toronto has coached at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. And if the Maple Leafs lose -- no matter how it happens -- it won't be the most distressing defeat he's endured in that building.

That distinction belongs to Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup final when Philadelphia, coached by Quinn, took a 3-2 deficit into the Coliseum, and had its season end when Bobby Nystrom of the Islanders scored in overtime.

Nystrom, though, got the Cup-winner only after the officials failed to detect an apparent offsides a few seconds earlier, a detail that continues to gnaw at Quinn nearly 22 years later.

"That's why I've developed such a paranoia about officiating in playoff time," he said. "Which maybe has transferred to all time."

Tip-ins

Chicago defenseman Lyle Odelein will sit out Game 4 of the Blackhawks-St. Louis series tonight after receiving a one-game suspension for cross-checking Jamal Mayers of the Blues midway through the third period of Game 3. ... During a Hockey Night in Canada roundtable discussion, panelists John Davidson and Tony Gallagher raised the possibility that Detroit defenseman Chris Chelios, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer, will sign with the New York Rangers. Detroit General Manager Ken Holland declined to discuss that possibility because, "we're in a playoff series."