CBC Sports article
March 31, 2006
Veteran Detroit Red Wings forward Steve Yzerman leapfrogged Mario Lemieux into eighth place on the NHL’s all-time scoring list Friday.
Yzerman scored in the first period of Detroit’s 3-2 overtime loss at home against the Chicago Blackhawks to collect his 691st career goal and move past Lemieux, now owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The goal was Yzerman’s 13th this season, and the Detroit captain extended his scoring streak to seven games (four goals and five assists).
Associated Press article
March 27, 2006
Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings just keep rolling along.
Yzerman scored his 690th goal to tie Mario Lemieux for eighth place on the career list and help the NHL-leading Red Wings clinch a playoff spot with a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.
However, you won’t hear Yzerman compare himself to Lemieux.
“I don’t really know the significance,” Yzerman said. “If anything, it shows how good [Lemieux] is; he played almost five years less than I did.”
Yzerman, 40, scored midway through the second period off a scrum that started with Niklas Kronwall’s shot from the slot. Blues goalie Patrick Lalime made the save on Kronwall, but the rebound ended up on Yzerman’s stick just to the left of the goal, and the Detroit captain buried it for his 12th goal of the season.
Last night the Wings played the Nashville Predators for the sixth of eight meetings this season. Due to a meeting, I was unable to watch the entire game and just got the beginning and the end. Since that is the case, I will recommend that you check out the always interesting game recaps from IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman. Here is one example of his always entertaining game thoughts.
When I see Chelios going after Kariya, my first instinct is to put some John Denver on, call the kids into the living room, drink some warm cocoa and revel in the family moment. You just can’t beat that kind of fun.
Anyways, the game ended in exciting fashion with a shootout. Now the shootout, for me at least, is always exciting to watch because you get to see the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and even my favorite The Captain deke out the opposition. However, I just hate that it decides the game (and I’ve been saying that the entire year, not just because we lost last night). Sure it’s better than having ties, but I guess I’m just an OT girl. I can’t wait for the playoffs and those good ole nights staying up real late because the game goes into double or triple OT.And why did Babcock choose Holmstrom in the shootout BEFORE the likes of Yzerman, Shanny, and the other sharp shooters we have on the team. Don’t get me wrong, Homer is a great guy. But for the shootout? Bad idea. But then Yzerman went up to center ice to get his shot at Vokoun. My heart was pounding like crazy. My mouth went dry. I started going crazy in my single dorm room. I mean I was clapping and chanting “Yzie, Yzie, Yzie” (what my family and I call him). The Captain just had to make the shot. Missing wasn’t even an option. I mean this is the Steve Yzerman. He’s been captain of this team longer than I’ve been alive. From the looks of it, everyone at the Joe was standing and acting crazy. And then Yzerman, like the pro he is, smoothly deked Vokoun and tied the shootout up. IwoCPO had similar thoughts:
Steve Yzerman skated to center and winning meant nothing. An extra point wasn’t even a consideration.The only thing going through the mind of every Wing fan anywhere was this, “I do NOT want to see Steve Yzerman fail.”
Deals with the devil were made on the spot, “just let Yzerman score…if we lose, I can handle it. K? I’ll take the loss, but not this way. Deal? Great, thanks.”
He did. The Captain scored low on Vokoun’s right side…and the deal was done. The devil was due.
But the Preds scored on their next opportunity and Shanny failed to get the puck in the net so the Wings lost in a closely contested game and shootout.Unfortunately, I don’t have time for anymore thoughts since I must go to my English class. As I mentioned in the last post, I had a 17 page paper due Tuesday and 3 exams and another paper due next week so I’m going to be pretty busy. I’ll post when I can. Behind the Blog won’t return until I have time to send out a batch of questions. If you’re interested in participating, send me an email or leave a comment. I already have one person waiting (Mike Chen) but I need a few more.
The Detroit Red Wings defeated fellow Central Division and Original 6 team, the Chicago Blackhawks, last night at the Joe, 6-4. The following Wings scored (in order of goals): Pavel Datsyuk, Steve Yzerman, Mark Mowers, Henrik Zetterberg, Kris Draper, and Yzerman. Want to know more about what happened in the game? Read On the Wings’ and Abel to Yzerman’s game recaps.Aside from a Wings win, Chelios had another reason to celebrate yesterday. His son, Dean, had two assists in the Division 3 state championsip game, which his team won 4-0. Dean is a junior at my high school’s rival school, Cranbrook. My high school’s men’s basketball team won it’s district final game, 103-57, and will play next on March 15. It’s so weird being an alum and not at these games. Anyways, go Yellowjackets!
Okay, back to hockey. After coming close to scoring a hat trick last night, plenty of people have something to say about my favorite hockey player, The Captain. Here’s a collection of what they all had to say…
Steve Yzerman scored two goals (one a power play) for the Wings to lead the way. It was Yzerman’s first two-goal game of the season.”I just hope he can continue to get better,” said coach Mike Babcock of Yzerman, who raised his season total to nine goals. “He’s going to help us obviously. Guys want him to do well.”
Yzerman’s first goal, on a nice pass from Robert Lang, gave the Wings a brief 2-1 lead in the first period, and was one of the nicer goals of the night. “It was a great pass from Robert and I wasn’t really expecting it,” Yzerman said. “But it was nice for it to go in.”
Chicago captain Martin Lapointe, a former Red Wing, admired Yzerman’s performance. “He works so hard on every shift,” Lapointe said. “He keeps battling, blocking shots, he just plays so hard. I’m sure his body aches every morning he wakes up. But he just leads his team. It’s pretty to watch.”
Chicago coach Trent Yawney expects more from Yzerman after that.”He’s still one of the best leaders in the game,” Yawney said. “I wouldn’t judge him by what he’s done so far this year in terms of statistics, but I would watch in the playoffs what he does for this team.”
The first note I made after the 1st intermission was that Steve Yzerman looks very good. He’s moving better and he’s driving to the net more. Also, The Captain has turned into a mucker. He’s hanging around the crease, taking cross checks, waiting for dirty rebounds. We still see the patented pull-up along the wing, but more and more it seems he’s created a role for himself closer to the net.
Yzerman, who appears re-energized of late, continued the onslaught by scoring his second goal of the game with 7.2 seconds to play in the period during a two-man advantage. It was his ninth goal of the season.”He can continue to get better,” Babcock said. “I don’t know if he was necessarily better than he has been, except that he scored a couple of goals. The better he gets, it’s going to help us. The guys want him to do well.”
“It was nice to see,” Mowers said of Yzerman’s performance. “We know he can score some goals. I expect it’s going to happen more often towards the end of the season.”
On Yzerman’s first goal, he tapped in a sweet feed from Robert Lang after rookie defenseman Dustin Byfuglien lost the future Hall of Famer in front.“It was nice to see one go in, but Khabibulin almost made the save,” Yzerman said.
