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Sunday, June 9
Updated: June 9, 6:58 PM ET
 
Road rules in Cup finals overtime games

ESPN.com news services

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The key to winning extended overtime games in the Stanley Cup finals is simple: be the road team.

Road teams are 11-2 in finals overtime games, with the road team winning both overtime games in this series. Carolina won 3-2 in Game 1 before Detroit won 3-2 in Game 3.

Reality Checks
Some of the things overhead after the Hurricanes' 3-2 triple-OT loss to the Red Wings in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals:

"It was just a grind. I remember guys cramping left and right. It was just a long game. When you're involved in the game, it doesn't seem that long. I'm sure as a fan, when you're sitting in the stands, (it seems longer)."
-- Carolina's Martin Gelinas on when he played for the Oilers in 1990 in the longest Cup finals game vs. Boston.

"It's tough to lose a game like that when you've played for more than five hours. But we deserved to win."
-- Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, who led all players with 52 minutes and 3 seconds of playing time.

"You can't do anything about that game, but there is something we can do about the next game. That's our focus and that's where our attention has to be.''
-- Ron Francis on Carolina's Game 4 approach

"It's a tough loss, you can't hide it. We're not going to go in waving pom-poms and say it's all right.''
-- Carolina coach Paul Maurice

Game 3's The Charm

The team winning Game 3 of a 1-1 series has gone on to win the Stanley Cup 20 of 23 times. Pittsburgh in 1991 was the last team to rally from such a deficit.

Powered Play?

The trend of penalties subsided a bit in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday night. Both Carolina and Detroit had complained about the high number of penalties being called on both sides in the first two games of the championship series with 13 power plays in Game 1 and 16 in Game 2. There were just nine power plays opportunities in Game 3, including five chances handed out in the first period.

The only two home teams to win an overtime finals game since 1990 were Detroit, 5-4 over Washington in Game 2 in 1998, and Montreal, 3-2 over Los Angeles in Game 2 in 1993. Three of Montreal's four victories in that finals were in overtime.

Road teams have won the last seven overtime games in the 2002 playoffs and are 12-6 this spring.

 
NOT RUNNING ON EMPTY..............................
Red Wings forward Sergei Fedorov said there was one thing he always wanted to do after leaving hockey.

"I wanted to run a marathon,'' he said.

Now, after nearly playing the equivalent of two games in one night, he's not so sure.

"I think now I've already done that,'' he said.

 
DIFFERENT KIND OF CUP UPSET..............................
Igor Larionov celebrated what he called "the biggest goal of my career'' by going back to his hotel, getting a few hours' sleep, then getting up to watch most of Russia's 1-0 World Cup loss to Japan.

"I was very disappointed,'' Larionov said of the upset loss. "It was like Belarus beating Sweden in the Olympics.''

Larionov was sorry to hear of unrest in the streets of Moscow following the loss, saying, "It's very sad.''

 
WANDERING WING..............................
Even his own teammates get worried when Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek wanders far from the net to play pucks, as he did throughout Game 3.

At one point, with Carolina on the power play in the second overtime, Hasek nearly went into a corner to play the puck.

"You know when you hear the fans say, `Uh, oh?' '' forward Brendan Shanahan said. "Sometimes we say the same thing. But he is a guy who is going to be involved.''

Forward Darren McCarty said, "You've got to give him the benefit of the doubt. At least he didn't try to shoot the puck. Dominik is going to be Dominik. Just as long as he stops the puck ...''

 
SHANNY'S SLUMP..............................
Shanahan admittedly hasn't had a good postseason. He has only one goal in 10 games, and that was a tap-in of a puck fumbled by Colorado goalie Patrick Roy.

Shanahan had one of the best scoring chances in the first overtime of Game 3, only to put a shot off the left post. He returned to the bench with a disgusted look on his face.

"I have to relax,'' he said. "One of the coaches said I'm squeezing the stick a little too hard right now. But I know things are going to come. I want to be the guy that my teammates can count on to get the big goal.''

 
NOTEWORTHY..............................

  • Detroit coach Scotty Bowman won his 34th finals game Saturday, tying former Montreal Canadiens coach Toe Blake for the NHL record. Of Bowman's victories, he had 20 with Montreal, four with Pittsburgh and 10 with Detroit.
  • The Hurricanes' ninth overtime game left them two short of the Canadiens' record in 1993, when they went 10-1 in extra-period games. Carolina is 7-2 in overtime, with goalie Arturs Irbe winning six in a row until losing Saturday night.



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