Capitals need major miracle against Wings

For the first time since 1991 and 1992, there will be a successful defense of the Stanley Cup, barring the greatest comeback in Cup history by the Washington Capitals against the Detroit Red Wings. Tonight in D.C., the Wings can defend their Cup title with a win and a sweep of the series.

Detroit coach Scotty Bowman will secure his eighth Cup coaching ring. That will tie him with Toe Blake for the most championships as a coach in the National Hockey League. Bowman also has a ring as GM in Pittsburgh, the last team to win back-to-back Cups.

When Detroit wins the Cup, it will be the 32nd finals win coached by Bowman, tying him for number one with Blake and Dick Irvin. It will seal Bowman’s place in NHL history and in the Hall of Fame.

For Slava Fetisov, it will be his second Cup. The defenseman and former captain of the Soviet Red Army Team didn’t even start his NHL career until he was 31. He is just the fifth NHL player to reach the finals at the age of 40 or older. At 40 now, Fetisov joins the Doug Harvey of the Blues (1968) and Allen Stanley of the Leafs (1967) as the only three to pass 40 and record a point in finals play.

Fetisov is a proud man and one of the game’s greatest defenseman – ever. He was anti-communist while a player for the Red Army. Think about that. When he and his Red Army defensive partner, Alexi Kasatonov both came to the New Jersey Devils and played as a unit, they never spoke.

Kasatonov had supported the Communist regime. Fetisov felt his defensive partner had betrayed his own beliefs in political circles in the former USSR. They passed the puck to one another, nothing more.

Fetisov’s best friend on the Wings is Boston College graduate and former University of Maine hockey nemesis Doug Brown. An Eagle and a Russian Bear – best friends. Brown is a survivor. Not a superstar, he lives by effort and smarts. In Game 2 of this year’s finals, when Detroit overcame a two-goal deficit twice in the third period, Sergei Fedorov, the Wings’ offensive star, was lackluster.

Said Brown, “Scotty [Bowman] came down the bench and stood behind me. He said, `Get Sergei going, will you?’ I edged my way down beside Fedorov, patted him on the back a couple of times, said nice things to him and he went out and flew the rest of the game.”

It works like this. Fedorov reveres Fetisov. They are both Russian and Fedorov grew up with Fetisov as his hero. Fetisov respects and befriends Brown. Fedorov knows that. When Brown speaks to Fedorov, it’s Fetisov through an ally. Fedorov listens.

If Detroit sweeps tonight, it will be the first time ever the Cup has been won in sweeps for four consecutive years. It will be Detroit’s ninth Cup and third in back-to-back years.

It will have been a final with a Game 2 that made history. For the first time in 42 years, a team overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period in the finals.

The overtime win for the Wings came on the 60th shot and devastated the Caps. It was a game in which two grinders, Doug Brown and Chris Draper, scored the tying and winning goals, respectively.

It is a series in which the winning goaltender, Chris Osgood, can’t find respect. He is second only to Ken Dryden in regualr season goals against – ever.

There’s just one more thing – Detroit needs one more win. It is the most difficult in hockey. Tonight they try, but it will come hard. Lifting the Cup was not meant to be easy.

NEWS columnist Gary Thorne, an Old Town native, is an ESPN and CBS broadcaster.