The Osgood Files

ST. LOUIS —  Chris Osgood was a forgotten man during the Detroit Red Wings’ Stanley Cup march a year ago, relegated to watching after Mike Vernon leapfrogged ahead of him as the team’s starting goaltender.

Vernon started every game and won the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs while Osgood sat and waited, appearing in two games for 47 minutes’ worth of mop-up work. His name was engraved on the Cup, but the triumph was so strongly identified with the feisty Vernon that a Detroit reporter wrote last week that St. Louis’ Grant Fuhr was the only goalie in the playoffs with a Stanley Cup to his name.

Osgood corrected that oversight. Next, he’d like to make sure the Blues don’t forget him, either.

They respect him, and they should. He shared the Jennings Trophy, for fewest goals against, with Vernon in 1995-96 and appeared in 15 playoff games as the Red Wings defeated Winnipeg and St. Louis before losing to Colorado in the Western Conference finals. He was 23-13-9 with a 2.30 goals-against average last season, and was 33-20-11 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .913 save percentage this season. For his career, he’s 132-52-50 with a 2.32 goals-against average.

Yet, it’s Vernon who still haunts the Blues, not Osgood, because of Vernon’s performance a year ago in holding them to 12 goals in six games in their first-round loss to the Red Wings.

“Osgood’s a good goalie, and we’ve got to find his weaknesses, but Vernon’s game always seemed to rise in the playoffs,” Blues’ left wing Geoff Courtnall said. “I played against him a lot of years, when he was with Calgary, and I saw that every time. . . . Osgood’s a good goalie but Vernon really gave us a tough time last year.”

Vernon was traded to San Jose last August because the Red Wings were confident Osgood would be their No. 1 goalie and playoff starter. If his performance Sunday in helping the Red Wings tie their Western Conference semifinal series was an indication, they were right.

Osgood kept the Red Wings in the game until they were able to wear down the Blues’ defense, earning chants of “Ozz-ee!” from fans who had showered him with derisive cheers after he’d yielded a goal on the Blues’ first shot in Game 1. The 6-1 victory that sent the series to St. Louis tied at 1 today wasn’t a laugher until the final six or seven minutes--and it might not have been a victory at all without Osgood’s quick reflexes and alert positioning.

For once, Vernon’s name was hardly mentioned. The few comparisons that were made only cast Osgood in a favorable light.

“Vernie was a big part of why our team won the Stanley Cup last year and he’s going to be in people’s memories,” Red Wing captain Steve Yzerman said. “Ozzie was kind of thrown in there this year and people are thinking, ‘He’s got to win the Cup for us.’ He doesn’t. He just has to play hard and play his best.

“This team has total faith in him as a goaltender who can play well in the playoffs. [Comparisons to Vernon] are something Ozzie is going to have to go through.”

Osgood knows that until he matches Vernon’s Cup feat, he will be thought of as that cherubic kid who looks more like a stickboy than a seasoned, 25-year-old goalie.

“He’s a very competitive guy,” teammate Kris Draper said. “He’s battled all year. Confidence-wise he’s definitely come into his own, as he should. He saw Mike Vernon get traded and he realized this is going to be his hockey club, that he was going to be the starting goaltender for the defending Stanley Cup champions, and he thrived on it.”

If any doubts persist, he can’t let them bother him, anymore than he can let a forward in the slot distract him when he’s in goal.

“If I wanted to, I could live in the past and think of Terry Sawchuk and everybody else who ever played for this team,” Osgood said. “This team has lots of history and there have been a lot of great goalies. I’m here to write my own book.”

His last game was one of his best in the playoffs. A second-period save against Pierre Turgeon on a two-on-one break while the score was tied at 1, and an arm save against Pavol Demitra in the last minute of the second period with the Red Wings protecting a 4-1 lead, were among the most crucial in frustrating the Blues and giving the Red Wings a chance to split the first two games.

“He made some huge saves,” center Igor Larionov said. “Ozzie was exceptional and he kept us in the game. . . . It’s a battle of goaltenders and Ozzie is playing great. I think he’s at the same level as Grant Fuhr, and Grant Fuhr is the greatest goalie I ever played against.”

Fuhr has another admirer in Osgood, who idolized Fuhr as a youngster. Fuhr was amused to learn that.

“It means I’m getting old,” said Fuhr, who is 10 years older than Osgood. “Ozzie’s a good kid. He had a good year.

“A goalie can make a difference in the playoffs and you want to be in that position. Hopefully Chris or I can make the difference.”

Osgood will have to make a big difference today at the Kiel Center, where he and the Red Wings are 0-3 this season and have been outscored by the Blues, 12-5.