Beating The Red Wings (when You Really, Really Have To Beat The Red Wings)

In Nashville the accursed white whale is red. Since the Predators entered the NHL in 1998, they have chased the elusive, hulking glory of the Red Wings, not only in the Central Division but also in their own city, which is heavily sprinkled with Detroit fans. Now, with five weeks remaining in a season in which Nashville used a run of 20 wins in 24 games to cement its status as a Stanley Cup contender, the Predators--with visions of a silver chalice rather than Ahab's gold doubloon shimmering in their minds--are hot on the great beast's tail.

A 4--3 win over Detroit last Saturday night, a game that Nashville controlled at even strength, was sealed in overtime when newly acquired star Peter Forsberg (a longtime Red Wings nemesis from his days with the Colorado Avalanche ) knocked in a nifty backhand pass from Paul Kariya . "It couldn't be better," Forsberg said afterward. "We beat Detroit at home.... We have to keep the momentum going."

The win, which thrust the Predators back into first place in the Central, evened the season series between the clubs at two games each and set the stage for four meetings in March that will decide the division. All games in the seemingly interminable 82-match regular season might be about equal--sometimes two points, sometimes three--but, as Orwell's farm animals might note, those against Detroit are more equal than others.

Nashville played before a sellout crowd of 17,113 on Saturday, and with each victory over the Red Wings a few more locals may be won over. (Before a home game against Detroit in the Predators' first season, forward Scott Walker surveyed the sea of red, wing-wheeled jerseys in the stands and said, "O.K., boys, let's try to take the crowd out of the game.") Also, any game against the standard-setting Red Wings gives Nashville the chance to gauge both the extent and limitations of its capabilities. Most important of all in this season's top-heavy Western Conference : If Nashville can at last sink Detroit in the Central, it could avoid a first-round playoff matchup with an elite Pacific Division team (box, page 43), a worthwhile detour for a franchise that has yet to win a postseason series.

" Stanley Cup , Stanley Cup , Stanley Cup , Stanley Cup , Stanley Cup , Stanley Cup ...," Nashville coach Barry Trotz was saying last Friday morning as he tapped the names of Detroit players on a whiteboard in the coach's room. Ten players in all got a tap. (Combined, those Red Wings have won the Cup 20 times.) Had he done the same exercise with the nameplates of his players, he would have had to stop after two-- Forsberg , who won twice with Colorado , and center Jason Arnott , who won with the New Jersey Devils in 2000. Trotz, the only coach in Predators history, mixes realism with an inveterate optimism. In the days leading to Saturday's game, Predators' coaches were forbidden to bring up their Thursday-night loss to the Montreal Canadiens , in which Nashville squandered three two-goal leads and lost in a shootout. Anyone caught talking about how Nashville had kicked away a precious point would have been expected to contribute to the Negativity Fund--a so-labeled plastic container in the coaches' office that staff members pay into for spreading bad vibes. On Friday associate coach Brent Peterson wrote energy and patience on a whiteboard as coaching guidelines for practice. Then he began to write no s-a-r ... before stopping. "How," he asked, "do you spell sarcasm?"

The Predators operate in a slogan-heavy environment, the locker room painted with signage such as no excuses and winning respect and pride, hustle, desire. No catchphrase would have better suited the Red Wings' matchup than do your homework. Nashville went to exceptional lengths to determine ways to handle Detroit 's superb power play (they wanted to neutralize immovable forward Tomas Holmstrom, who does his best work near the crease, but he ended up scoring three goals on the man advantage), to outfox the Red Wings' stingy penalty-killing unit (the Predators went 0--3 on the power play) and to attack their aggressive 1-3-1 forechecking system (which Nashville did successfully). Says Kariya , "Before Detroit games, [the meetings] are always longer."

But not necessarily more intense. For all their relative inexperience, the Predators are a loose bunch, as is Forsberg . The most riveting pre--Red Wings activity came on Friday at the clubhouse Ping-Pong table at which Forsberg , who says he was unbeaten during his season and a half with the Flyers, dropped games to winger Martin Erat and to goaltender Tomas Vokoun , before avenging the loss to Vokoun as teammates yelped. When the table tennis ended, hockey practice began: a sprightly, energetic session. No negativity anywhere.

Even when players aren't involved, deliberations go on for a while when Detroit is in town. Heading into game day Trotz fiddled repeatedly with his line combinations. (For one thing he wanted to play strength against strength: his No. 1 line of Forsberg , Kariya and Erat against Detroit 's No. 1 line centered by Henrik Zetterberg, thus keeping Forsberg away from Kris Draper 's checking line.) In mixing things up, Trotz dropped rookie winger Alexander Radulov to the fourth line. A 20-year-old who was a dynamo in juniors (152 points in 62 games and MVP of the Memorial Cup) and who won a spot in training camp with his virtuosity, Radulov hadn't scored since Jan. 1. But when assistant G.M. Paul Fenton saw the line combinations, he suggested that Trotz flip Radulov with plugger Vernon Fiddler on the second line. The challenge of increased ice time and responsibility, Fenton suggested, might snap Radulov's skid. Trotz listened but balked. "There's an accountability factor," he said. "From the players' standpoint, this is maybe our biggest game of the year. They'd want to know why the coaches are putting him in that situation."

The larger question is that if Trotz were reluctant to play Radulov important minutes against Detroit in late February, would he do it in a playoff game in April or May? "We're trying to win the damn Stanley Cup , and we need to know [about Radulov]," Fenton said to Trotz, referring to finding out how the rookie plays under pressure and whether Nashville had to add a more experienced forward before the Feb. 27 trade deadline. A Red Wings showdown, though, is no place for experimentation: Radulov played less than six minutes and scarcely at all in the third period.

Trotz's meticulousness becomes heightened as the stakes rise, and in his final team address before the game he spent 15 minutes going over breakouts, dissecting the Predators' coverage strategy on lost face-offs while analyzing Detroit 's face-off plays. Normally in such meetings Trotz will come up with motivational lines, trying to frame why the game is important. Not this time. "If you can't figure out your motivation" for this game, Trotz said, "you're dead."