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Wings Win Stanley Cup

DETROIT, June 7 -- The Stanley Cup has been on display for three days here in the city dubbed "Hockeytown USA," where fans have lined up by the hundreds to view it. The Detroit Red Wings made sure the silver trophy will remain here at least a year as they defeated Philadelphia, 2-1, tonight at Joe Louis Arena to sweep the best-of-seven finals and earn their first championship since 1955.

Detroit's 42-year title drought was the longest current streak in the NHL and clearly a source of great frustration among residents. City officials draped a statue known as the "Spirit of Detroit" in a Red Wings sweater, and one fan among the 19,983 at "The Joe" held a sign that read: "Missing: The Stanley Cup. Last seen: Detroit, 1955. Bring it home!"

"It is unbelievable," said center Steve Yzerman, the team's captain who has played here since the 1983-84 season. "It's been a long time for Detroit, a long time for me."

This was Coach Scotty Bowman's seventh championship and first with Detroit. He's the first coach to win the Stanley Cup with three teams -- five with Montreal from 1973 to '79 and one with Pittsburgh in 1992.

After the game, Bowman laced on skates and made a victory lap with the trophy over his head.

"I always wanted to be a player in the NHL and skate with the Cup," said Bowman, who never played in the league.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman presented the Cup to Yzerman.

"There's always been a mystique and tradition about the Red Wings, but not since the days of Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay 42 years ago has the Stanley Cup been here. Congratulations," Bettman said.

Then, Yzerman -- with Lindsay, who played left wing for the Wings from 1944 to '57 and 1964 to '65, and several other former Detroit players -- took the traditional victory lap around the rink, a practice Lindsay began in 1950.

Detroit had won seven previous Stanley Cups, including four from 1950 to '55. But the Red Wings lost in the finals in 1966, then did not reach the finals until 1995, when they were swept by the New Jersey Devils. Last season, they won an NHL-record 62 games in the regular season but were beaten by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference finals, leaving their fans ever more thirsty for the Cup.

Detroit dominated the first three games of this series, outscoring the Flyers 14-5. Tonight the Red Wings became the third consecutive team to sweep the championship series, following New Jersey and Colorado.

As they were all series, the Red Wings were too fast and too skilled tonight for the Flyers, whose presumed advantage in size and strength went for naught.

Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom scored the first goal, firing a shot just inside the blueline that beat goalie Ron Hextall with seven minutes left in the first period. But the goal that showcased the Red Wings' speed and finesse was the second one, scored in the second period by right wing Darren McCarty, who took the puck at the blueline and cleanly deked Philadelphia defenseman Janne Niinimaa and Hextall to make it 2-0.

"Don't expect that all the time," McCarty said with a laugh after the game. "Every blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. I guess I found one at the right time. I was excited to make it 2-0. It gave us breathing room. We needed it."

Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon played another stellar game, stopping all but one of Philadelphia's 28 shots. He had a 1.76 goals against average for the series and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the series MVP.

The Flyers' lone goal came when star center Eric Lindros, who had not scored in the first three games, poked the puck in with 15 seconds left. By that time, Philadelphia had pulled Hextall in order to have an extra offensive player, but the late goal was not enough.

This was the closest game of the series. Coach Terry Murray -- who on Friday blasted his team in a closed-door meeting Friday and said its struggles amounted to a "choking situation" -- said this game marked his team's best performance in the finals.

"I look at the club as a bunch of champions," Murray said. "We didn't win the championship, but in my eyes we're a bunch of champions. We learned a lot in these four games. . . .

"There has been mistakes that have been made. We will think back on things that happened, but you do have to get a taste of [the championship series] and draw from it."