Chills. Down your spine. That's what you feel when you watch the video of Steve Yzerman scoring one of the most iconic and memorable goals in Detroit Red Wings history. This goal, of course, was from the 1996 Western Conference semifinals.
Detroit fans packed the Joe Louis Arena on May 16 of 1996 for a pivotal game seven against the St. Louis Blues. Aside from an 8-3 shellacking of the Blues in game two, the series was a tightly contested affair, and this game would be no different.
Fuhr goes down
In the previous series, the Blues took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Blues' starting goalie, Grant Fuhr suffered a knee injury from friendly fire. Defenseman Chris Pronger rammed Leafs winger Nick Kypreos into Fuhr. The goalie was down with his legs bent underneath him. The hit caused him to tear multiple ligaments in his knee, putting an end to his season.
Jon Casey and Bruce Racine, the Blues' backups, split the remaining starts and held their own. Casey, in particular, stood on his head for the deciding game of the semifinals against the Red Wings.
Both sides had firepower
The Red Wings had Casey under siege, pinning him down in the net with 40 shots over 81 minutes of play, but it was only the last one that mattered.
The Blues had their fair share of firepower with Brett Hull and Wayne Gretzky leading the way. Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood was unfazed. While he saw fewer shots, he stopped all 20 shots through four and a half periods of exhausting hockey.
Yzerman creates another classic moment
With nine minutes left in double overtime, defender Vladimir Konstantinov flubbed a pass out of the defensive end that headed right to Gretzky. He lazily tried to take control with one hand and the puck bounced off his stick.
Yzerman nabbed the puck and came rushing down his right side. As he crossed the blue line into enemy territory, a couple of Blues stood between him and the net. It was a great opportunity to use them as a screen. So, he let a slapper fly and the next thing you heard was rubber clinking off of metal behind Casey.
It had been a long night, and overtime had worn everyone down. Double overtime had drained what little energy remained. But after that goal, none of it mattered. The energy was electric. The Wings were going on to the Western Conference Finals.