It’s Foolish to Count Out the Red Wings Just Yet

The hockey world was in shock when eighth-seeded Vancouver took a 2-0 lead over Detroit in their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Watching the Canucks win consecutive games at Joe Louis Arena was especially tough on Red Wing fans, who booed or jeered Scotty Bowman’s team throughout the last period of Detroit’s 5-2 Game 2 loss last week.

Detroit’s fans shouldn’t be so fickle.

The Red Wings won this season’s President’s Trophy because they were the league’s best team. They didn’t finish with 116 points by accident.

Counting Bowman and the Red Wings out after two games was a big mistake. Detroit has too many future hall of famers and too much experience.

That’s why it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the Red Wings looking to regain home-ice advantage tonight in Game 4 after an impressive 3-1 victory at Vancouver on Sunday in Game 3. If the Carolina Hurricanes opened a series with two losses at home, they would be finished.

But not the Red Wings, who needed only to get back to basics.

Detroit floundered down the stretch, going winless over its last seven regular-season games, which, coincidentally or not, happened after Bowman began resting his regulars.

One of Bowman’s motives was to experiment with different player combinations because of the Red Wings’ abundance of talent.

Bowman gave defenseman Niklas Lidstrom a break to work in Uwe Krupp, who missed most of the season because of injury. He also allowed veterans Igor Larionov and Luc Robitaille time off.

It wasn’t such a great idea because, by the time the Red Wings rolled into the playoffs, they were in a funk.

Bowman found out that it’s not always easy for a team to turn it on whenever it wants to.

The Red Wings’ chemistry was out of whack, and Vancouver, the NHL’s highest scoring team in the regular season, scored a combined nine goals in Games 1 and 2.

The target for most of the fans’ taunts was goaltender Dominik Hasek, who looked bad on a couple of Vancouver goals. It wasn’t necessarily Hasek’s fault though.

It’s widely known that Hasek doesn’t like to have players blocking his view, especially his own teammates. But when Bowman shook up his lineup and then added captain Steve Yzerman and Krupp to the mix, the Red Wings lost their rhythm.

Before Sunday’s Game 3, Bowman decided to revert to the lineup he used for much of the season, splitting up defensemen Chris Chelios and Lidstrom, and putting the Red Wings’ three best offensive players on one line.

Bowman put defenseman Frederik Olausson into the lineup for Krupp and teamed him with Lidstrom, his partner earlier this season. Defenseman Jiri Fischer then was reunited with Chelios.

The Red Wings then teamed forwards Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan and Yzerman, who formed a super No. 1 line. Bowman also had Kris Draper and Larionov switch positions, with Draper going back on Detroit’s roughneck line with Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty. Larionov then centered a No. 2 line with Robitaille and Tomas Holmstrom.

The moves produced an outstanding first period against the Canucks as the Red Wings had good scoring chances and reduced their giveaways.

Detroit also did a better job slowing Vancouver’s big line, which features Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund.

With less traffic in front, Hasek looked like his acrobatic self, frustrating the Canucks with 22 saves, including 11 in the third period.

Vancouver Coach Marc Crawford matched his top line against Detroit’s No. 1 trio most of the night and did not have much success.

Tonight, it’s Crawford’s turn to adjust.

Line Shifts

New Jersey’s rookie Brian Gionta is generously listed at 5 feet 7, but he has played big for the Devils so far in their series with Carolina. Gionta, the goat in Game 2 when his clearing pass was intercepted by Carolina’s Marek Malik and turned into a Bates Battaglia overtime winner, made a huge difference in the Devils’ 4-0 Game 3 victory on Sunday. Gionta, a three-time Hobey Baker Award finalist at Boston College, scored a goal, had one disallowed because it was played with a high stick, and fought off the 6-5 Malik to block Carolina goalie Arturs Irbe’s view on a Bobby Holik goal.... New Jersey winger Scott Gomez has begun to do some light skating but the cast won’t come off his broken left hand until at least May 4.

Coach Brian Sutter is as tough as they come, but he even empathized with Chicago fans after his Blackhawks were crushed at home, 4-0, by St. Louis in Game 3 of a Western Conference quarterfinal series. After putting up one of the league’s best home records during the regular season, the Blackhawks didn’t show much life on Sunday. “It was one of the worst hockey games anybody could watch,” Sutter said. “The fans were incredible at the beginning. They were great, and [their support] was wasted.” Look for the Blackhawks to be a tad more physical in tonight’s Game 4. It also would help if Chicago’s Tony Amonte starts playing like he’s worth $8 million a season.

Like Amonte, Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph is a potential free agent, but he’s playing like he’s worth a monster multi-year contract. Joseph is making his point with outstanding play for the Maple Leafs, who look to take a 3-0 lead against the New York Islanders.... Former King first-round pick Aki Berg has stepped up as a big-time defenseman for Toronto Coach Pat Quinn. Berg has been teamed with fellow Finnish player Jykre Lumme and the pair has played exclusively against the Islanders’ top line, which features Alexei Yashin.

Calgary, which missed the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, is claiming losses that will total $6.5 million (Canadian) this year. Vancouver, which originally estimated losses this season to be around $5 million, is now expecting to lose $3 million because the Canucks made the playoffs.