This is the final season at the legendary Joe Louis Arena for the Detroit Red Wings. To celebrate the legacies and timeless moments that were created here, we’ll be counting down our top 25 moments involving the Red Wings at “The Joe” in a five-part series, starting at number 25.
25. 1997 WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIS, GAME 2
The Red Wings, fresh off a six game opening series win over the St. Louis Blues, entered the second round of the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the young and upstart Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who featured the fearsome-twosome of Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. Detroit opened the series with a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 1; Game Two would also go to overtime – three to be exact.
The teams traded chances at both ends before a Slava Kozlov blast from near the top of the faceoff circle beat Ducks goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov 1:31 into the third overtime period. Detroit would go on to sweep the Ducks to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
