DetroitRedWings.com’s Art Regner profiles Fredrik Olausson, who was part of the Red Wings’ 2001-2002 Stanley Cup Championship team, as part of Regner’s “How Swede It Is” series on Wings Swedes:
When the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs began, Olausson was a healthy scratch. Detroit, the Presidents’ Trophy winner, hosted the Vancouver Canucks in the first round and proceeded to drop Game 1, 4-3, in overtime and followed it up with a 5-2 loss in Game 2.
Trailing two games to none with the next two games in Vancouver, the Red Wings needed a shakeup.
“We fly overnight right after the game to Vancouver. And the next day, we had a late afternoon practice, all the coaches, all the managers, all the trainers were in this one locker room and we’re debating what are we going to do,” Dave Lewis said. “After about 45 minutes, Scotty (Bowman) went out of the room. He was sort of noncommittal anyway, listening to everybody. He comes back in about five minutes, and said, ‘Yep, I got it. I talked to Nick and Nick wants to play with Freddie Olausson so it’s all set, no worries. Uwe Krupp is out, Freddie Olausson’s in and we’ll be good to go.
“So we’re having practice and everyone’s on the ice. I go up to Nick and I said, ‘Nick, did you talk to Scotty?’ He said, ‘Oh, I haven’t talked to him today. I can’t even remember if I talked to him yesterday.’ Scotty just made that decision based on the past season’s performance with Nick and changed the chemistry.”
Inserting Olausson into the lineup and pairing him with Lidstrom worked. The tandem became a dominant pair and it paid off in a big way during the Western Conference Final.
After splitting the first two games of the series against the Colorado Avalanche in Detroit, the Red Wings and Avalanche were headed to Denver for Games 3 and 4. In Game 3, the contest was deadlocked, 1-1, after regulation.
Sometimes overtime sets the stage for the unlikeliest of heroes. For Olausson the moment came at 12:44 of OT when his slapshot beat Patrick Roy, giving Detroit a 2-1 victory and a 2-1 series lead.
