Only a Cup Will Do for the Red Wings

If the Detroit Red Wings’ collection of Hall of Famers fails to win the Stanley Cup, it will be remembered for that disappointment rather than its dominating regular season.

“We’ve been saying all [season], if we don’t win the Cup, it won’t be a successful year,” Darren McCarty said. “This is what this team was made for. This is what we’ll be remembered for. Good or bad, it’s here.”

Detroit will begin its quest for the Stanley Cup tonight against Vancouver in a best-of-seven first-round series.

While the Red Wings say they’re focused on the Canucks, who led the league in goals and enter the playoffs on an 8-0-1 streak, others wonder how Detroit will respond after almost lapping the competition during the regular season.

The Red Wings, with an NHL-high 11 Olympians, won the President’s Cup with 116 points, at least 15 points more than the rest of the league.

They trailed only the Canucks in scoring without having a player among the top 12 scorers and became the first team to have three 600-goal scorers, sometimes on the same line.

They had an NHL-best 10-game home winning streak and won a league-best eight straight games on the road.

Detroit proved it was as good in reality as it looked on paper--quite an accomplishment alone--after its already-talented roster was restocked last summer.

The Red Wings traded for goaltender Dominik Hasek, a six-time Vezina Trophy winner and two-time most valuable player, and signed two of the game’s best all-time scorers: Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille.

When those three future Hall of Famers were added to the team’s other candidates--Steve Yzerman, Chris Chelios, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan and Igor Larionov--greatness was expected, and it was delivered.

Presiding over the stars on ice is Scotty Bowman, hockey’s winningest coach, who has won eight Stanley Cups.

“We’ve been looking forward to the playoffs all year, especially when we were resting guys when the games didn’t mean anything,” Shanahan said. “We know as a team why we were put together. This team was built for the playoffs, not just for the regular season.”

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The Philadelphia Flyers don’t feel pressure. They’re used to high expectations.

“There’s always pressure in Philadelphia,” forward Mark Recchi said.

The Flyers open their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against Ottawa tonight. “Even though we struggled at the end, we still expect big things.”

Despite winning only two of their last 10 games, the Flyers are strong favorites to beat the Senators, who have won only one playoff series in six chances.

After trading Eric Lindros, spending $37.5 million on free agent Jeremy Roenick and $45 million to re-sign John LeClair, management made it clear another first-round failure won’t be accepted. Philadelphia has been eliminated in the first round in three of the last four years.

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Toronto Maple Leaf backup goalie Tom Barrasso will sit out the start of the playoffs because of a broken bone in his hand.

The Florida Panthers beat the Atlanta Thrashers and the Columbus Blue Jackets, two teams with worse regular-season records, to win the first pick in the June 22 draft.

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Washington Capital goaltender Olaf Kolzig will sit out the world championships because his knee is still sore and his son is undergoing medical tests.

The world championships will be held April 26-May 11 in Sweden.

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Mighty Duck rookie center Andy McDonald has been added to the Team Canada roster for the world championships.