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Saturday, June 8
Updated: June 9, 1:19 AM ET
 
Hasek of old returns, Irbe all but perfect

By Darren Pang
Special to ESPN.com

ESPN's Darren Pang breaks down the goaltending in Detroit's 3-2 win in triple overtime over the Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals:

Arturs Irbe
Irbe
Dominik Hasek
Hasek
I think the Red Wings would do themselves a favor if they collapsed down low and allowed Carolina to shoot 15 pucks at Dominik Hasek so he can just stop some pucks and get into the game, and not have to worry about going out of the net and playing them. I think he caused a little bit of confusion by doing it.

Shortly after Scotty Bowman called a timeout, Steve Yzerman went over to him and I thought he said to Hasek, "Calm down we'll take the whistle, we'll win the faceoff," -- that kind of thing -- "You don't have to play everything. Let's calm things down a bit. Don't take any chances."

During the last two overtimes, I thought Dominik was the Dominik of old. I thought he was vintage, making saves going back into his net, pushing the pucks to the side as soon as he made the saves, he had better control over things, a better stance, more patience. And obviously, he made some real key saves down the stretch.

Arturs Irbe, to me, was rock solid. He's not making any mistakes. If you're scoring on him, you're scoring great goals. Igor Larionov's shot to the top corner was outstanding. He got some breaks along the way -- I think there were five posts. That can mean two things: Either your angles are good or you've got a bit of luck. It's probably a combination of the two. He didn't have a chance on the game-winner. He did everything he could to get his body up there, but Larionov's shot was perfect.

Time and time again, I think his brain is his biggest strength. He just doesn't make mistakes; he's so compact and solid that Detroit is forced to beat him. He's not beating himself.

The biggest thing right now for both goalies is re-hydration. Both of these goaltenders lost 8-10 pounds during Game 3. That's a lot of pounds for a little guy like Arturs and a skinny guy like Dominik. Tomorrow they'll do something. They'll both at least get on a bike for a little bit of time to avoid the lactic acid buildup.

Mentally, a long game is not a problem. Dominik has to think about what he did well down the stretch; he started playing some smart hockey. Arturs can't beat himself up at all about this. The last thing you do is worry about what happened. You look forward to the next game and I think both these goaltenders have that mentality.

Darren Pang, a former goaltender with the Chicago Blackhawks, is a hockey analyst for ESPN.



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