Gretzky Hurting but Blues Feel Better After 5-4 Win

ST. LOUIS —  His hunched posture, the grimaces that twist his face and the zero still beside his name in the goal-scoring column after nine playoff games offer mute proof that after absorbing a pounding from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, Wayne Gretzky’s physical state is far from ideal.

If his old back woes are causing the scoring slump that has fans wondering if he’s washed up or merely tired, he isn’t saying. But while his condition remains a mystery, the St. Louis Blues’ condition clearly took a turn for the better Wednesday. In a dramatic and strangely see-sawing game, the Blues pulled out a 5-4 overtime victory over the Red Wings before a crowd of 20,796 at the Kiel Center--the largest playoff attendance in the club’s history-- and cut Detroit’s series lead to 2-1.

Gretzky, who played little in the Blues’ 8-3 loss at Detroit on Sunday and afterward proclaimed, “I stink,” got considerably more ice time Wednesday. However, he managed only one shot and was watching from the bench when Blues’ defenseman Igor Kravchuk intercepted a Detroit clearing pass and blasted a shot past a screened Mike Vernon 3:23 into overtime.

“Obviously on Monday, I probably felt a little bit like Greg Norman did after the Masters, but I had some chances and tonight I felt fine,” said Gretzky, who contributed an assist on the third St. Louis goal and has 12 assists in the playoffs.

“Hearing what people have been saying about me, that’s like a push for me. I got motivated tonight and I felt I had a strong effort. Hey, it’s been my life to prove to people who doubt me that they’re wrong. It was tough Monday, after we got bombed, but it’s nice to win. I felt a little bit better.”

The Blues, who seemed in danger of being steam-rolled by the Red Wings’ high-powered offense and league-leading defense, felt immeasurably better after Kravchuk’s fluttering shot snaked through a crowd in front of the Detroit net and eluded Vernon.

They had fallen behind, 1-0, when Detroit defenseman Vladmimir Konstantinov rifled the first shot of the game past Jon Casey, then surged ahead by scoring on their first three shots. However, the Red Wings, who lost defenseman Paul Coffey to a game misconduct for arguing with referee Kerry Fraser, rallied and quieted the rowdy crowd.

Three consecutive goals by center Steve Yzerman put Detroit ahead, 4-3, early in the third period, but enforcer Tony Twist brought the Blues even at 8:46 on a shot that slid through Vernon’s leg pads.

No more than 20 seconds after Casey made a glove save on Detroit winger Keith Primeau’s overtime breakaway--”That’s our year right there,” Gretzky said of the grab--Kravchuk thrust the Blues back into the series by keeping the puck inside the Detroit zone and firing it past Vernon.

“I guess every game I’ve played in, I’ve gotten stronger as the game went along,” said Casey, who spent most of the season in the International Hockey League but became the Blues’ starter when Grant Fuhr injured his knee in Game 2 of the Blues’ first-round series against Toronto. “I tried to block out the last game. A game like that really hurts. You can either lie down and die or fight your way through it.”

The Blues decided to fight Wednesday and were rewarded. “It’s 2-1 now, so you never know what’s going to happen,” Kravchuk said.

Said Vernon, who is 2-2 and has played only in Detroit’s road games: “I’m very upset. We were down and we battled back and led, but we let them back in it. We just couldn’t put them away.”