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The Ten Most Memorable Detroit Red Wings Games in My Lifetime.

My favorite sport after baseball, is hockey and my favorite hockey team is the Detroit Red Wings. I’ve been a fan since I was about ten when I saw a game on TV, between the Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. I don’t remember who won, or if there were any great goals or dazzling saves but I do remember that there was a bench-clearing brawl and I thought it was pretty cool to see the whole ice covered with players fighting each other and all the equipment scattered everywhere. The Red Wings were known as the “Dead Wings” then because they were just horrible, they almost always lost, their record that year, 1978-79, was 23-41-16 (wins, losses & ties). A lot has changed since then but I’m still rooting for them and once again they’re horrible. In 2019-2020, their last nearly full season they had a record of 17-49-5 (wins, loss, overtime loss).

Now, I have to say that I have been spoiled for a lot of that time, the Wings made the playoffs every year from the 1990-91 season through the 2015-16 season a streak of 25 years (the 4th longest in NHL history). but that still means they missed the playoffs the first twelve years I followed them and the last six. I feel a real connection with the team, a connection made even closer by the fact that when the Wings are in Traverse City for training camp, stay at the hotel, where I work. During the time they are there, I will see them walking around and I get to talk with them. It just makes me think of them as MY team.

As a tribute to my favorite hockey team, I will pick the ten most memorable Red Wings games since 1968 (my lifetime). I'll start at #10 and work my way up to the most important game. Strap on the memory skates, hold on, and let the octopi (the Wings semi-official mascot) fly!

#10 October 5, 1983. Steve Yzerman's first game with the Wings.

I didn't know at the time how important this game was going to be, no one did. Sure, the Red Wings had taken Yzerman fourth overall in 1983 entry draft, so there were a lot of expectations on him. However, he wasn’t their first choice (Pat LaFontaine was, he was taken third by the Islanders). No one knew how Yzerman would turn out as a NHL player, there have been plenty first round draft picks that never lived up to the hype (see Brian Lawton the first overall pick in that draft). I was just excited for a new NHL season to start and I was hoping the Wings would at least make a run at respectability. I had heard about the exciting young player but I didn’t know anything about him. Yzerman started his career in Detroit in a big way, in his first game with the Wings he scored a goal and an assist in a 6-6 tie against the Winnipeg Jets. He scored his first NHL goal at 14:46 of the first period to give the Wings a 3-1 lead and his first assist on a Eddie Johnstone goal at 9:11 of the third period to put Detroit up 6-5. The Wings would give up the tying goal and that’s how it would end but I remember being very impressed with Yzerman’s performance. I was still learning the finer points of hockey but I knew that two points in your first NHL game as an 18 year old was outstanding. He would go on to score 39 goals & 48 assists that season and be the runner-up for the Calder Trophy (NHL Rookie of the Year) to another 18 year old, Buffalo Sabres goalie Tom Barrasso. The Red Wings made their first playoff appearance since the 1977-78 season and even though they lost four games to one to the St. Louis Blues, Steve Yzerman was on his way to the Hall of Fame and immortality. I couldn’t find video of his first goal, but here are ten of his best.

#9 May 3, 1987. Deepest playoff run in 21 years.

In the late 80’s the Dead Wings were trying to right the ship but it was a long road to hoe. They made the playoffs in 1969-70 but lost in the first round and didn’t get to the playoffs again until the 1977-78 season, when they lost in the second round. In 1983-84 and 1984-85 Detroit had made the playoffs but lost in the first round, first to the Blues and then to the Chicago Blackhawks, in 1985-86 they missed the playoffs all together. The team shook things up before the start of the 1986-87 season by naming 21 year old Steve Yzerman the 32nd captain of the Red Wings. The Wings responded by going 34-36-10 good enough for 2nd in the Norris Division. They swept Chicago in the first round and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Norris Division final in seven games, sending them to the Clarence Campbell Conference final against Wayne Gretzky and the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers. This was the deepest playoff run the Wings had made in 21 years! The Oilers were the odds on favorite finishing 28 points ahead of the Wings in the standings. They had three of the top four scorers in the NHL, in Wayne Gretzky (183 points), Jari Kurri (108 points) and Mark Messier (107 points) and their goalies combined for a league leading 50 wins. Against this, the Wings had Steve Yzerman (90 points), Gerard Gallant (72 points), Darren Veitch (58 points) and goalies that combined for the tenth most wins in the league (34). The series opened in Edmonton and I was not confident that the Wings even had a chance. In the first game of the series the Wings jumped out to the lead when Yzerman scored at 10:12 of the first period. The Oilers responded just 24 seconds later on a goal by Kent Nilsson. The Wings regained the lead 1:56 later on a goal by an unlikely scorer, Joey Kocur. He was a Red Wings enforcer, who had only scored nine goals the whole season. The very chippy (a hockey term for violent) period ended with a 2-1 Wings lead and 50 penalty minutes between the teams. The second period was another chippy period with two fights but no goals. The third period was a clean period with Edmonton pressing to get the tying goal but the Wings put the game away when Gallant scored at 13:57. I was beside myself, the Wings actually beat the vaunted Oilers! Unfortunately the Oilers woke up and won the next four games to take the series. It was my first taste of real playoff excitement and it would be repeated the next season with the Wings making it to the conference final again, and once again losing to the Oilers in another 4 games to 1 series. Here is some extracurricular activity from a game in the series with the Oilers.

#8 June 17, 1995 Stanley Cup Final Game 1.

The 1994-95 NHL season was a real rollercoaster one. There was a lock out and the first three months of the season were cancelled. After the labor strife was settled, it was decided that the season would be 48 games starting on January 20. The Red Wings raced to a President's Trophy ( best record in the regular season) winning, record of 33-11-4. In the playoffs they beat the Dallas Stars four games to one, swept the San Jose Sharks and beat the Blackhawks four games to one, sending the Wings to their first Stanley Cup final since 1966. They met the New Jersey Devils, who had finished with a 22-18-8 record. Few people gave New Jersey much of a chance against the NHL's best team. Going into the game, Detroit was a perfect 8–0 at home in the playoffs, and had outscored their opponents 30–11 in those games. The Red Wings powerplay had been scary in the playoffs with the Wings scoring 18 powerplay goals and Mike Vernon was playing great in goal after taking over for the less experienced Chris Osgood. I remember the fans at Joe Louis Arena chanted, "Who cares?" after every Devils name was read during introductions and there were three octopi launched onto the ice before the National Anthem was even over. After a scoreless first period, the Devils broke the tie. After a roughing penalty to Kris Draper, Stephane Richer scored at 9:41 on a slap shot. The Red Wings responded less than four minutes later on a powerplay goal by Dino Ciccarelli at 13:08. In the third period the Devils would regain the lead at 3:17 on a goal by Claude Lemieux, a player the Wings were going to become very familiar with over the next few years. 2-1 was how the game ended and the Wings wouldn’t get any closer that year. The Devils won the next three games to sweep the Wings and I would have to wait for another year for my Stanley Cup dreams. It was an important step on the way to their future dynasty though. It gave the core of the team the experience on the big stage and showed them what they needed to do to win. Here are all the goals from the 1995 Finals.

#7 April 17, 2002 Western Conference Quarterfinals Game 3 Lidstrom turns the series around.

2001-02 was a dream season in my Red Wings fandom. It started in May when the Red Wings signed free agent defenseman Fredrick Olausson, nothing really special there, the Wings were signing depth players ever year. On July 1, 2001 the feeling of the season changed when the Wings traded Russian Five member and fan favorite, Vyacheslav Kozlov to the Buffalo Sabres for all-time great goalie Dominic Hasek, at that point it was clear that the Wings were serious about making another Stanley Cup run. On July 5, the Wings made another blockbuster move in signing perennial All-Star Luc Robitaille and I was busting at the seams for the season to start. I figured that we were the run away favorites to win the Cup and I was more than happy with the team as it was. On August 22, the off season of my dreams got even better with the announcement that the Red Wings made another free agent signing. This time it was future Hall of Famer Brett Hull, the player that had scored more goals in previous nine seasons (439) than any other NHL player! I remember hearing it on the radio that day and being so excited that I couldn’t wait to tell someone, anyone who would understand the significance of the event.

The Red Wings we're the talk of the hockey world and most of the talk revolved around how all the big egos on this team would coexist. There were plenty of talking heads that said something along the lines of “will there be enough pucks to go around?”. That meant would one or more of the future Hall of Famers on this team (Yzerman, Robitaille, Hull, Hasek, Sergei Fedorov, Chris Chelios, Igor Larinov and Nicklas Lidstrom) become unhappy with their role on the team and derail the season, or would future Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman be able to keep them focused on the goal?

They started off the season living up to the expectations, winning 22 of their first 27 games and ended it by winning the President's Trophy with a 51-17-10-4 record. They had to face the eighth seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs and everyone thought it was just going to be a formality, everyone but the Canucks anyway. Game 1, at a sold out Joe Louis Arena, started as a back and forth affair, but ended with the Canucks surprising the Wings with an overtime win. The Canucks had a couple goals that went in either off a Wings player or after a bunch of strange bounces but a loss is a loss. Two days later the Wings tried to even the series but just like Game 1 they lost, this time 5-2. Again the Canucks got all the bounces, including a goal that hit three players the goalpost and the goalie before going in. Now I was really worried that this historic team was not going to make it out of the first round. The Wings should have run roughshod over the Canucks and now not only are they down two games to one, they have also lost home ice advantage, with the next two games in Vancouver. Now the stage has been set for Game 3.

Game 3 was April 17, 2002 in Vancouver and Red Wings fans, including me were very worried about how this series was going. Stevie Y. opened the scoring with a goal at 10:41 of the first period but the Wings had already rung two pucks off the goalposts so the bounces still weren’t going our way. Vancouver tied the game on a Todd Bertuzzi goal at 4:38 of the second period and I thought “here we go again” but the Wings managed to keep the game tied through the rest of the period until the turning point of the series. Just before the end of the second period Nicklas Lidstrom was carrying the puck through center ice and let a slapshot go from the center red line. This was a shot that would normally be an easy save but this time it beat Canuck goalie Dan Cloutier just under his catching glove and over his left pad. Even the Red Wings color commentator Mickey Redmond said “that’s the break the Red Wings needed” and boy was he right. The whole tenor of the game changed. The Wings started to get back some of the swagger they had started the series with. Shanahan scored at 3:18 of the third period to add an insurance tally and the Wings get their first win of the series with a 3-1 score. This win re-energized the Wings and they won the next three games to take the series four games to two. Until the Lidstrom goal it looked like the the Wings might not even make it out of the first round in a year that everyone had all but given the Cup to them. Watch the goal below.

#6 June 8, 2002 Stanley Cup Final Game 3. A triple overtime classic.

I have three games from the 2001-2002 season because that was just an extraordinary season but I won’t have the big set-up like I had to do for #7. After squeaking by Vancouver, beating St. Louis and going the distance against the Avalanche (more on this series later), the Wings were up against the Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Final. Once again the series would start in Detroit and just like the series against Vancouver, the Red Wings lost Game 1 at home. This time the Wings won Game 2 which set up the pivotal Game 3 in Raleigh North Carolina. The Hurricanes opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period being scored by Josef Vasicek at 14:49. The Red Wings tied it on an Igor Larionov goal at 5:33 of the second period. For the rest of the period the goalies stood tall and even thought both teams had chances to take the lead, the period ended with the score tied 1-1. In the third period, Jeff O’Neill scored at the 7:34 mark to put the Hurricanes up 2-1 and it would stay that way until Brett Hull scored at the 18:46 mark to tie it 2-2 and that’s how the the third period would end. The Hurricane fans saw overtime as a plus for their team because they had played seven overtime games in this playoffs, going 4-3 while the Wings had played five games with a record of 1-4 in overtime, including a loss to the Hurricanes in Game 1.

As the first overtime period wore on the goalies were showing the world why they were two of the best goaltenders to ever play. Wings keeper, Dominik Hasek and Hurricanes backstop Arturs Irbe were frustrating shooters at both ends of the ice again and again. Even when there was a 4 on 4 situation for the last 1:37 of the period, both goalies stopped every shot that came their way and the period ended as it had started. As for me I was growing more and more nervous as the game went on.

After 80 minutes of playing time the two tired teams stepped back onto the ice for the second overtime period and as it went on you could see the players getting more tired by the moment. The Hurricanes made the first big mistake, when Erik Cole was called for a holding the stick penalty at the 8:35 mark. Irbe bailed his teammate out by stopping all the shots the Wings had during the powerplay. Then it was Detroit’s turn to be shorthanded when Fredrick Olausson was sent to the penalty box for holding at 13:25. Hasek did the same thing as Irbe and turned away every shot that came his way. At this point I was so nervous I could hardly watch it. In fact I was turning the channel when the Hurricanes had the puck, but I could only stand to be away from the game for 30 seconds so I was just flipping back and forth rapidly. Luckily for me the Wings killed off the penalty and the period ended still tied at two goals each.

At the start of the third overtime the two teams were playing the fifth longest Cup Final game ever. At the 6:21 mark they were in third longest game. The next target was at the 14:51 mark, but the game finally came to an exciting. When the oldest player in the NHL, 40 year old Igor Larinov, scored his first NHL career overtime goal at 14:47 of the third overtime to give the Wings the win and a two games to one series lead. After 114:47 minutes of play it missed being the longest game in Stanley Cup Final history by 26 seconds but I would rather have the win. The Wings would go on to win the next two games for their 10th Stanley Cup and their third in six years. Watch the goal below.

#5 May 16, 1996 Conference Semifinals Game 7 vs. St. Louis Blues. Yzerman’s blast ends it.

After the disappointing four game sweep at the hands of the New Jersey Devils in the 1995 Stanley Cup Final, the Wings were hell bent on returning to the final and winning their first Cup since 1955. They blasted through the regular season in record breaking style with 62-13-7 for 131 points, 27 points more than the next team. In the first round of the playoffs the Wings beat the Winnipeg Jets four games to two and in the second round they faced the St. Louis Blues. The Wings won the first two games, the Blues won Games 3, 4 & 5. The Wings, on the brink of elimination won Game 6, setting up the deciding Game 7 in Detroit. It would be played in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,056 in a rocking Joe Louis Arena. As with any Game 7 it was a win or go home situation and you could see the urgency in both teams. I was watching it in a local watering hole and I was very concerned about how the game would go, the Wings were too good to lose this early in the playoffs. As soon as the puck dropped both teams played a hard checking, fast paced game. The goalies, Jon Casey for the Blues and Chris Osgood for the Wings each played great games and regulation ended with the score still 0-0. The first overtime also ended with no goals and the further the game went on the more anxious I became. Luckily I didn’t have to wait to long into the second overtime. The Blues dumped the puck deep into the Red Wing's zone but the Wings came up with it. Vyacheslav Fetisov turns around the net, passes it to Vladimir Konstantinov who tries a pass into the neutral zone but it’s blocked by Wayne Gretzky. It bounces off his stick and is picked up by Steve Yzerman who lugs it through the neutral zone. Just as he gets to the blue line he rips a slapshot at the St. Louis goal and Jon Casey, who had played one heck of a game, couldn't stop it. It got by him, clanged off the crossbar and into the goal. The Joe went wild and so did I, kind of scaring the remaining patrons of the bar, who were there to drink not watch hockey. There was a big pile of Red Wing players behind the Blues net celebrating the win. The win sent them to the Western Conference Final against the Colorado Avalanche later and we will visit that game later. See the exciting goal below.

#4 March 31, 2002 Conference Final Game 7. An landslide of goals against the Avalanche.

Here we are back in the 2002 playoffs, I promise it’s the last one. After the Wings beat the Canucks in six games, they played the St. Louis Blues and defeated them four games to one, setting up another meeting between the bitter rivals the Red Wings and the Avalanche. The Wings and Avs had a very intense rivalry since 1996 (See Memorable Game #3) and had met five time in previous playoffs with the Avalanche winning three of the series. It was always a chippy affair every time these team played each other and this time was no different. The teams traded wins for the first four games but the Avalanche took Game 5 and a three games to two series lead, after a 2-1 win on an overtime goal by Peter Forsberg.

Game 6, played in Colorado was a game the Red Wing's had to win to force a Game 7 and was a very stressful game for me as a fan. I couldn't believe that this Red Wing team could lose once again to the hated Colorado Avalanche! The game was scoreless until Brendan Shanahan scored. There was no scoring in the second period and Darren McCarty scored the only goal in the third period to give the Wings a 2-0 win and force a Game 7. That game was three days later at a Joe Louis Arena buzzing with barely contained frenzy and I wasn't much better. All that day all I could think about was the game and what would happen if the Wings lost. I didn't necessarily think they would lose but in an elimination game one bad bounce, a broken stick or a bad penalty could send them home for the summer. Besides this was Patrick Roy and the Avalanche. Like the Wings, the Avalanche had their own crop of future Hall of Famers. Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Rob Blake and the aforementioned Patrick Roy. By puck drop I was beside myself with anxiety. I had my lucky shirt and my lucky hat on. I was sitting in my lucky spot in front of the TV and had my lucky drink (a Pepsi) and lucky dinner ( two burritos from Taco Bell) and was ready to go. Even the announcers could feel the energy in the building and as the puck dropped they were sure that we were about to see an instant classic.

At the 1:57 mark of that stressful first period, the Red Wing's opened the scoring when Tomas Holmstrom tipped a puck past Roy. The Joe went wild and I felt a little better but there was still a long way to go. 1:23 later at the 3:17 mark Sergei Fedorov blasted a slapshot by Roy to make it 2-0. The arena was even more charged up after this goal and I was even more relaxed. It started getting weird at the 10:25 mark when Luc Robitaille made it 3-0. I was mystified, I expected this to be a tight checking low scoring affair and there was a little part of me that wouldn't have been surprised if the Wings got blown out in the game, but there wasn't one part of me that would have imagined that the Wings would have scored three goals on Patrick Roy in just over half a period! At 12:51 Holmstrom got to a loose puck and shot it past Saint Patrick for his second goal of the game making the score 4-0. I just could not believe the score. I mean I sat in front of the TV actually wondering how could Patrick Roy be playing this bad? The last time I saw Roy play this bad was December 2, 1996 when he was playing for the Montreal Canadians and gave up nine goals in 32 minutes against, oddly enough, the Detroit Red Wings. Even the Red Wings TV announcers couldn't believe how the game has going, trying to find the words to explained what was happening.

The second period started with me still reeling from the number of goals the Wings scored in the first. The second period seemed like it was going to be a repeat, when at the 4:41 mark Brett Hull scored the fifth goal of the game. It was a pass by Boyd Devereaux from behind the net that Hull one timed right past Roy. The crowd is really having fun now, they’re chanting “Paaaatrick, Paaaatrick” and a little later when the Wings dump the puck into the zone and Roy makes the save, the crowd gives him a Bronx cheer. Less than two minutes later, the 6:28 mark to be exact, the Wings score again, this time on a goal by Fredrick Olausson. All eyes turned to the Colorado bench to see if Roy was going to be benched and the backup enter the game. The announcers commented that at this point in his career it was Patrick's decision to come out of the game and it was soon apparent that his decision was to come out. I was shocked, I hadn't seen him pulled from a game since 1996. Imagine how he felt, in hockey when you are on the bench as the backup goalie, the fans are right there. I wonder how much flack he was getting from them? The Avalanche brought in David Aebischer to finish the game and he only gave up one goal to rookie, Pavel Datsyuk at the 16:09 mark of the third period. That meant that Aebischer made 13 saves on 14 shots in 33:32 of ice time while Roy made 10 saves on 16 shots in 26:28! I still found the whole game unbelievable but I was happy the Wings were moving to the Stanley Cup Final. Here is a video of all seven goals.

#3 1996 Western Conference Final vs. the Colorado Avalanche, “The Hit’

After beating the St. Louis Blues in exciting fashion in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals, the Wings moved on to play the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final. At this time there was no real history between these two teams, the Avalanche had moved to Colorado at the beginning of that season after being the Quebec Nordiques since 1979.

Colorado won Games 1, 2 and 4, while the Wings won Games 3 and 5, setting up a pivotal Game 6 in Colorado.

Joe Sakic opened the scoring with a goal at the 11:57 mark of the first period. A little over two minutes later an incident occurred that changed the whole dynamic between these teams. At the 14:07 mark of the first period checking forward Kris Draper had turned around to get a puck that was behind him, as he was skating backwards trying to corral the puck, Claude Lemieux came at him from behind and checked him into the dasher (the lip that runs around the top of the boards). Draper collapsed in a heap on the ice and had to be helped off by the trainer. Lemieux acted like he didn’t do anything wrong and complained when he was given a five minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct (for which he was ejected from the game). The Wings got a goal by Paul Coffey on the ensuing powerplay to tie the game at one but in the second period the Avalanche scored twice to put the game away and send the Wings home for the summer.

The entire off season the Red Wings fumed about the illegal hit. Kris Draper was so badly injured by the hit that he had to have facial reconstruction surgery and have his jaw wired shut for five weeks. To top it off, not only did Claude Lemieux not apologize for it, he told reporters “No one knew who he was before that. That hit made Kris Draper famous.” The Wings and their fans thought about that quote all summer and fans were eager for revenge. During the 1996-97 the Wings and the Avalanche would play four times. The first time was November 13 in Detroit which the Avalanche won 4-1. There was a explosion of activity four seconds before the end of the game, when Vladimir Konstantinov and Adam Foote got into an “altercation” that ended up drawing in Adam Deadmarsh and Martin Lapoint, who dropped the gloves.

The next game was December 17 at Colorado, and the Avalanche won again this time 4-3. While there were no fights, the Red Wings were called for eight roughing or misconduct calls.

The third game of the season series was another one in Colorado which the Avs won 4-2. There were 90 minutes in penalties handed out between the two teams including a fight between Martin Lapointe and Peter Forsberg. In the three games so far that season the two teams have combined for 180 penalty minutes and the Avalanche have won all three, but there was one game left. The fourth game of the season series was on March 26, 1997 in Detroit but the story of that game is Memorable Game #2. Watch the hit that spawned a rivalry below.

#2 March 26 1997, regular season game against the Avalanche. Fight Night at the Joe.

After the 1996 playoff exit at the hands of the Avalanche, the take around the NHL was that the Red Wings were a talented but soft team that couldn’t handle physical play. The Wings already had Vladimir “The Impaler” Konstantinov, Stu “Grim Reaper” Grimson and Joey Kocur, they gave Martin Lapointe more playing time, they brought Jamie Pushor up from the minors and most importantly traded for Brendan Shanahan. They entered training camp that year with an emphasis on physical play. They also had another motivation for increased physicality. As I said earlier, the Wings and especially their fans were looking for revenge on Claude Lemieux and the Avalanche and March 26 was the last chance to get it. The officials, Referee Paul Devorski as wll as Linesmen Ray Scapinello and Dan Schachte might not have known it but they were going to have a busy night.

The game started as all the others had, with Colorado scoring first, this time on a goal by Valeri Kaminski at 3:29 of the first period. 1:16 later was the first fight of the game, between Jamie Pusher and Brett Severyn who fought to a draw. Rene Corbet and Kirk Maltby engaged in more fisticuffs at the 10:14 mark of the first period which ended up being an easy win for Maltby.

Things really escalated at the 18:22 mark of the first. It started with Igor Larinov getting tied up with Peter Forsberg as the play went up ice. Forsberg connected on a punch to Larinov's head and he, of course, didn't like it. They started to wrestle with each other and one of the linesmen and the Ref tried to break it up. At the same time the other linesman had a hold of Darren McCarty, who had sworn revenge on Lemieux, but McCarty broke away from him just as Lemieux was skating by. He threw a wild right hand, punching Lemieux square in the nose. McCarty quickly jumped on him as Lemieux turtled on the ice. McCarty was raining punches into Lemieux's head and was dragging him towards the benches. When Patrick Roy saw that, he starting skating out of the goal crease to help Lemieux. As soon as Roy moved, Wings goalie Mike Vernon started towards center ice. Brendan Shanahan also saw Roy coming and moved to intercept him and Avs defenseman Adam Foote was headed that way as well. When the three met Shanahan went airborne taking Roy out and knocking down Foote as well. Meanwhile McCarty was still pummeling Lemieux, including kneeing him in the head. By that time Vernon had arrived at center ice and he and Shanahan were wrestling with Foote. Roy saw that and grabbed Vernon and they started trading punches. After a flurry of punches they fell to the ice with Vernon landing on top (meaning he won the fight in hockey world). After that the officials finally regained control of the game. There was a lot of clean up to do with gloves, helmets and sticks everywhere and a large puddle of blood in front of the Red Wings bench. Lemieux had been helped off the ice with a dazed look on his face and blood streaming down his face. Forsberg was bleeding from a cut on his face and Roy had a cut over his left eye and had to be tended to by the trainer. Meanwhile the crowd was going absolutely ballistic and I was bouncing off the walls at home. It took forever to sort out the penalties. Oddly enough only Vernon and Roy got penalties for fighting, they also got two minutes each for leaving the crease. Forsberg and Larinov each got two minutes for roughing and McCarty got a double minor for roughing as well. When they finally got the game going again it only took 15 seconds for another fight to break out. This time it was Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov and Avalanche forward Adam Deadmarsh it was a clear win for Deadmarsh with “The Impaler” a tough player but not a fighter. That’s how the period ended, with 60 penalty minutes between the two teams, the Wings getting their revenge but the Avalanche leading on the scoreboard.

The second period kept up the trend of the first period with Shanahan and Deadmarsh engaging in a real slobberknocker of a fight at the 0:04 mark of the period. Sergei Fedorov scored the first goal of the game for the Wings at the 0:35 mark to tie it at one. It didn't stay tied for long as Valeri Kamenski scored 37 seconds later. Martin Lapointe was next to light the lamp, when he scored at the 3:08 mark to tie it at two. 34 seconds later the game reverted back to goon mode when Aaron Ward fought Brett Severyn at one end of the ice and Tomas Holmstrom fought Mike Keane at the other. All four players got 5 for fighting while Ward and Severyn also also given ten minute misconduct penalties At 6:20 of the second period, Rene Corbet scored putting the Avalanche up 3-2. There were two more fights in the game at the 7:24 Mark of the second period Darren McCarty fought Colorado forward Adam Deadmarsh and at 11:26 of the second, when Wings defenseman Jamie Pushor fought Avs defenseman Uwe Krupp. After those altercations the game settled down and became a regular hockey game again. At 13:34 of the second period Deadmarsh scored for the Avalanche to make the score 4-2 in favor of Colorado. I was watching the game just beside myself, happy because of the retribution, but mad because here we are losing to the Avalanche again! Right before the end of the period Nicklas Lidstrom scored bringing the Wings to within one at 4-3 and I was hopeful that in the third period the Red Wings would finally took the lead.

Unfortunately It didn’t take the Avalanche long to increase their lead when Valeri Kaminski scored his third goal of the game as the 1:11 mark of the third. I’m just getting more upset because the Wings just can’t seem to solve the mystery of the Avalanche and I know that if they want to win the Stanley Cup we’ll have to beat Colorado eventually. My hopes were raised a little when at the 8:27 mark Martin Lapointe scored to bring the Wings within one and I was overjoyed when 37 second later Brendan Shanahan scored to tie the game at five. The third period would end with the two teams tied and the Wings hopes for a win rested on the overtime period. I didn’t have to wait long because Darren McCarty scored the winning goal at the 00:39 mark. It was especially sweet that the player that had knocked Claude Lemieux out of the game was the one that won the game for the Wings. It got the monkey of “The Hit” off their back and proved that they could hang with the Avalanche in the playoffs. Watch all the glorious fights by clicking through to YouTube on the first video or the game highlights by clicking through on the second clip.

#1 June 7, 1997 Stanley Cup Final vs. Philadelphia Flyers Game. The Long Dark Winter is Finally Over!

After the regular season, the Red Wings found themselves ranked third in the Western Conference behind Colorado and the Dallas Stars. Their opponent in the first round of the playoffs was the St. Louis Blues who they beat four games to two. The second round of the playoffs saw the Mighty Duck of Anaheim come to town and what a series that turned out to be. The Wings won in a sweep, four games to none but three of the games went into overtime, including a triple overtime game and a double overtime game in Anaheim that didn’t end until 2:17 am here in Michigan. The Avalanche were up next and the Wings beat them in a hard-nosed and hard fought six games series sending the Wings to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in three seasons.

They faced the Philadelphia Flyers who were ranked third in the Eastern Conference but had home ice advantage in the final because they had a better regular season record then the Wings. The Flyers were favored because even after Fight Night at the Joe and beating the Avalanche in the playoffs, the hockey world was still under the impression that the Wings couldn’t stand up against a physical team and the Flyers were the fourth most penalized team in the league. They had the the “most feared line in the NHL” center Eric Lindros and wingers Mikael Renberg and John LeClair collectively known as the Legion of Doom. They had scored a combined 104 goals and 235 points and collected 259 penalty minutes, they were all the NHL talking heads could talk about.

Games 1 and 2 were in Philadelphia and the Wings won both games 4-2 and really dominated the Flyers at both ends of the ice. The Wings held the Legion of Doom to two goals and they never held a lead in either of the games. Game 3 was in Detroit, John LeClair scored first giving the Flyers the lead for the first time in the series but it only lasted two minutes before Steve Yzerman scored. That opened the flood gates and the Wings ended up wining the games 6-1 to take a three games to none lead and setting up Game 4 as the potential Cup clinching game.

Game 4 was held in a sold-out Joe Louis Arena, the crowd was so excited that they started cheering before the National Anthem and three octopi hit the ice during the song (since 1996 it was a penalty for the home team if anything was thrown on the ice). There were signs in the stands talking about the “Legion of Broom” and many signs about the ending of the 42 year Stanley Cup drought and plenty of signs just rooting for the Wings to win. The game started off very slowly with both teams feeling each other out. The Flyers didn’t want to make a mistake that would put them in a hole and the Wings didn’t want to come out of the gate feeling too confidant. There is an old adage that says the last game of a series is the hardest to win and another one that says a cornered animal is the most dangerous. The Wings were keeping both of those in mind in the first period. In fact the game stayed scoreless until the 19:27 mark when Kirk Maltby passed the puck back to the blue line to avoid some pressure from the Flyers and Nicklas Lidstrom blasted the puck past a shocked Ron Hextall to give the Wings a 1-0 lead and send the crowd and me at home, into new throes of elation and excitement. You could also see the Flyers deflate after the goal. They had been having a problem with their goalies letting long shots in and had even changed their starting goalie for Game 2. Now they were down 1-0 on the road in an elimination game. The second period was a lot like the first with both teams playing conservatively, the Wings, so the Flyers wouldn't get back into the game and the Flyers in an attempt not to give up another goal. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. It wasn’t the big name players, Yzerman, Fedorov or Shanahan. It was one of the “roll players” Darren McCarty. The play started inside the Red Wings blueline with Steve Yzerman chipping it away from a Flyers player and up to Tomas Sandstorm, who somehow saw McCarty skating up the middle of the ice and got him the puck. McCarty only had one Flyers defenseman between him and the goalie but he wasn't known for his sweet moves and scoring touch. Somehow he dangled the puck to the right for a second and when the defenseman went for it, drew it back to the left and got around him. Next he skated right at Hextall in net, and at the last second, drew the puck back to the right and put it into the open net. He went crazy, the broadcaster went crazy, the fans went crazy and I went crazy. At the 13:02 mark of the second period in Game 4 we now had a TWO goal lead. The way the game had been going everyone knew it was over. It was just matter of time and the question became could Mike Vernon keep the shutout going. As time ticked away, the crowd at the Joe and me at home were getting more and more worked up, with five minutes left in the game, the crowd started chanting “We Want the Cup” and with two minutes left the noise they were making was so loud the TV commentators had to yell to be heard. Even Eric Lindros scoring a goal at the 19:45 mark couldn't spoil the mood and when the horn went off to mark the end of the game the crowd got even louder. People were jumping around and hugging complete strangers. I was running around my house waving a Red Wings flag and yelling. For the first time in my lifetime and 42 years in all, the Red Wings were STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS! The players were in a big pile on the ice, confetti was floating down from the rafters and the coaches were hugging and carrying on behind the bench. Before long there was a Red carpet on the ice and a table set up. Then two men in suits with white gloves brought out the Stanley Cup. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman came out and congratulated the team and the crowd. He announced that the Conn Smythe Trophy winner for playoff MVP was Red Wings Goalie Mike Vernon. Vernon skated up and collected the trophy and raised it over his head to the ear shattering cheers of the crowd. Next Bettman said it was his honor to present the Stanley Cup to Steve Yzerman. They posted for a picture then Yzerman lifted it high over his head as the crowd got even louder. He skated with it, making a tour of the Wings end of the ice. Then skated over to the bench and handed it to Red Wings owner Mike Illich. After that he handed to Slava Fetisov and Igor Larinov who skated with it. Eventually every player got the chance to skate around while hold the 44 pound cup over their heads. After the game in the locker room Yzerman was asked if the Cup was heavy and he said “yes, but somehow it’s light as well. I drove to work the next day with a broom sticking out of my car window and before long I added a 3X5 Red Wings flag to the car. I will remember this game as long as I live and other than the Tigers winning the World Series in 1984, it is my greatest sports moment. The video below is McCarty’s amazing goal.

Watch the last four minutes of the game and the cup presentation below.

Click below to offer your opinion of which game is the best.

Honorable Mention: June 16, 1998 Vladdy holds the Cup.

After the excitement of winning the Stanley Cup, the team and all their fans were celebrating the win. Unfortunately on the night of June 13, 1997, just six days after the Stanley Cup win, Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov along with Slava Fetisov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov were in a limo after a golf outing with the cup. The limo veered off the road and slammed into a tree in a Detroit suburb. None of the men were wearing seatbelts and were catapulted into the wall of the passenger compartment. Mnatsakanov and Konstantinov both suffered closed head injuries and Mnatsakanov was paralyzed from the waist down, he is confined to a wheelchair to this day. Konstantinov's injuries were so severe that he was on a ventilator for a time but after a few weeks he left the hospital in a wheelchair. Fetisov had a broken ankle but was otherwise unhurt. The accident shocked the hockey world and rocked the Red Wings, their players and fans. It was made worse when it was discovered that the driver of the limo, Richard Gnida, who fell asleep at the wheel, had marijuana in his system and was driving with a suspended license, he spent nine months in jail.

The Red Wings’ 1997-98 season was played with heavy hearts after the tragedy with their teammates and friends. They wore a special patch on their sweaters and left Vladdy’s locker intact.

The Wings persevered and finished the season in third place in the Western Conference. They beat the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round, the St. Louis Blues in the second round and the Dallas Stars, with all series being won four games to two. Sending them to their second Stanley Cup final in a row and third in four years.

In the final, they faced the Washington Capitals who finished fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Wings won the first three games, setting up Game 4 in Washington DC as the elimination game for the Caps. It did not go their way right from the start with the Wings getting two goals before the Capitals even go on the board. The Wings scored two more times in the game to win by a score of 4-2 and sweep the series for their second Cup in a row. When the horn sounded the team was in a big pile behind their goal celebrating. As the two teams shook hands, Konstantinov was wheeled onto the ice to be with his team. Just like 1997 a red carpet was rolled out and the Cup was placed on a table. Gary Bettman came out and announced the Conn Smythe Trophy winner was Steve Yzerman and after he raised it up, Bettman then told Steve to come and get the Cup. He held it over his head for a minute and then handed it to Vladdy who was being helped by Slava Fetisov and Igor Larinov, the rest of the team came over and the pushed his wheelchair around the ice. Even the Washington crowd cheered at this emotional display. Just double click on the video to watch it on YouTube, it is well worth it.

There it is the ten most important Red Wings games in my lifetime. Some people might not agree but I think I have given a good account of why each game is on this list. I’d also like to apologize for the length of this post. It is hard to post a top ten list without properly setting up the situations for each game. If you have comments, additions or subtractions, wish to subscribe to this publication, or share this post with your favorite puck head, please click the buttons below.