"Oh no, not this guy!"
- Red Wings commentator from the pregame show
when they were showing clips of Adam on October 12, 2002

I was questioned sometime in the 2001-2002 season about the phrase in the above banner regarding Adam. I just think that it fits, given the amount of times he's either had the game-winning goal against the Wings or assisted on it, no matter which team he's on.

I, apparently, am not the only one to think this way. I'm not the first one to say the phrase, but I know that I didn't hear it before looking up things on Adam. I think that it's pretty cool in the respect that he's noticed for having Osgood's number.

Here is where you'll find the articles and photos that provide the proof! :)

An Avs fan's site commentary from 2000:

THE THRILL OF OVERTIME NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE!!

May 3, 2000
Playing without Ray Bourque? Oh, no problem. Keeping face while bad calls are made? Don't worry! Defeating the Red Wings in overtime when the score is tied at two? We can do it, and we did!

Chris Drury scored the game-winning goal in overtime, concluding one of the most exciting playoff games yet. Peter Forsberg made an excellent pass to Drury as the sophomore took advantage of goalie Chris Osgood's slide in front of the net. The reaction from the Avalanche bench was absolutely amazing - the whole team came out onto the ice and began to congratulate each other for the outstanding play.

"Give [Adam] Deadmarsh all the credit. He got it out of our zone," Drury said. "I was trying to cheat a bit, hoping he'd get it out. If he didn't, we might have been in a little trouble. I tried to give it to Peter because he knows what to do on a 2-on-1 better than me. He's a playmaker. He drove the net, made a nice pass to my backhand and I just slid it in."

The night wasn't looking too good early on. Not only did the Avalanche play without star defenseman Bourque, who has been out with a sore knee, but they seemed to have disagreed with many of the referees' calls and eventually became very frustrated.

The first goal of the evening came from Jon Klemm at 3:37 of the second, with help from Drury and former Dallas Star Dave Reid. The Red Wings tied it up just over five minutes later with a goal from Tomas Holmström between Roy's pads, his second of the playoffs.

The Avalanche's future looked bleak as Slava Kozlov batted in a slapshot on the rebound from Sergei Fedorov with just over ten minutes left in the period. The goal came on the Wings' power play, as Deadmarsh served a four-minute high-sticking minor for Joe Sakic. In fact, this penalty seemed somewhat fishy - was there much of a reason to tack on two extra minutes rather than make the penalty a five-minute major? Of course there was. Listen to this: if the Red Wings would have scored on the power play, as they did, a five-minute major would let the player out of the box. In this case, Deadmarsh had to serve the remaining two minutes. Many coaches, signaling referees from the bench and desiring a four-minute major, use this as a tool in a sticky situation.

The Avalanche came up and made a rebound. Veteran Dave Andreychuk came up big in the last five minutes of the game to tie the game, sending us into overtime. The 36-year-old forward still has the reflexes for the game. "It's a pretty big goal. Hopefully, I have a few more left in me."

How about the goal, Dave? "I was coming through and the puck came free. I knocked it in before he got his glove on it," he said.

Roy finished the evening with 30 saves. He now has 117 career playoff victories. Forsberg ended his four-game goal streak but has had at least one point in each of the last five games.

e-mail: avalanche999@yahoo.com

Deadmarsh still haunting Wings

April 22, 2001
By HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

New team, same old Deadmarsh.

The guy referred to in the Detroit locker room as a Red Wings killer for his pesky play came up with a huge goal Saturday afternoon to put the Wings one loss away from their earliest playoff exit since 1994.

Adam Deadmarsh, who came to L.A. from Colorado with Aaron Miller Feb. 21 in the Rob Blake trade, scored his first goal of the Kings-Wings series 1:38 into the third period. With Chris Osgood out of the net to play Ziggy Palffy, Deadmarsh knocked Palffy's pass into a wide open net, effectively neutralizing the huge boost the Wings had gotten when Slava Kozlov pulled Detroit within a goal 33 seconds into the period.

"It's always nice to try and get that momentum back," Deadmarsh said.

His goal gave the Kings a 3-2 victory and a 3-2 series lead headed into Monday night's Game 6 at the Staples Center. It was Detroit's first loss at Joe Louis Arena in 2001.

Though his numbers in the first round reflect the team's poor start to the series -- he has one goal, one assist and a minus-2 rating, Deadmarsh, and Miller, have been invaluable additions to the Kings. Before general manager Dave Taylor completed the deal, L.A. was a longshot to make the playoffs. Shortly after they arrived, the Kings went on a tear, going 13-2-5-2 the last 22 games of the season, leapfrogging Vancouver and booting Phoenix to finish seventh in the Western Conference.

"They're quality players," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "I really think, without trying to stroke my GM too much, it's just such a great deal they made when we were faced with the Rob Blake situation. We couldn't have added two players that fit our needs better than those guys. And that's not only for the regular season, but we're a better playoff team with two proven playoff performers.

"I can see they're playing good and they make the right plays and the right deicisions. The more players you have doing those things, it just helps influence everybody else."

Deadmarsh, whose first goal as a King came -- you guessed it, against the Wings, on March 3 -- had four goals and six points in 18 games since the trade, Miller had five assists in 13 games.

Deadmarsh helped set up the overtime goal that won the Kings Game 4, and Miller has blocked five shots over the past two games.

"These guys are a big difference on our team," winger Luc Robitaille said. "The fact that they've had a lot of experience in the playoffs ..... But the biggest thing is they're gritty players. No matter what the situation, they never change their game. They go hard every game, and it's amazing to have guys like that on your team."

The Wings are painfully familiar with the damage Deadmarsh can do to an opponent in the playoffs -- for the past two years, as a member of the Avalanche, he helped give Detroit the boot in round two.

He's poised to do the same this year, just earlier, and with a new team.

Contact HELENE ST. JAMES at 1-313-222-2295 or Hstjames@aol.com

Yes, Wings fans definately dread Adam Deadmarsh....this came from a RED WING fan site!

The Wings looked dominant in the first two games in the 1st round, but L.A. and L.A. goalie Felix Potvin have made it interesting. The Kings won four straight to end the series 4-2. Adam Deadmarsh continued to be the Wing killer by scoring 2 goals in game 6, including the series winner at the 4 minute mark of over-time.

Kings' Deadmarsh, Potvin are familiar playoff spoilers

April 10, 2001
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

It's like playing the Colorado Avalanche redux: Not the entire team of tormentors, just Adam Deadmarsh. Except there's really nothing "just" about him.

The Red Wings meet Deadmarsh, a King since late February, earlier than usual Wednesday when they host Los Angeles for Game 1 of the first-round series. In three of the past five playoffs, Deadmarsh helped the Avalanche dispatch the Wings in the second and third rounds, producing seven goals and 12 assists in 17 games.

The Kings acquired his services, along with those of defenseman Aaron Miller, when they shipped Rob Blake to Colorado with center Steve Reinprecht at the end of February. Deadmarsh since has had two goals and three assists.

"I think adding Deadmarsh has balanced out their lines a little bit and made them less reliant on one big line," Steve Yzerman said Monday. "He gives them another good two-way forward. And he's a really good playoff performer."

The other big difference about L.A. this spring, compared with the team the Wings swept in last year's first round, is found in goal, where Felix Potvin hasn't lost more than five times in 23 games since arriving Feb. 15.

"He's played very well since coming over from Vancouver," Yzerman said. "He's back on his game. He's a good goalie and he's hung in there. He'll make it even more difficult for us."

Potvin, too, has memories of being successful against the Wings this time of year -- he backstopped Toronto to victory through a seven-game series in 1993, even as Detroit outscored the Leafs, 30-24.


 Kings advance:
Deadmarsh ousts Wings by banging home OT rebound
Tuesday, Apr 24, 2001


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Adam Deadmarsh may have changed teams but he's still killing the Detroit Red Wings. Deadmarsh stunned the Red Wings with consecutive goals to tie and win the game as the Los Angeles Kings advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a 3-2 overtime win over the Detroit.

Deadmarsh - who haunted Detroit as a power winger with the Colorado Avalanche - scored his second goal on a rebound 4:48 into overtime, giving the series to the Kings in six games.

With their fourth straight victory, the Kings won a series for the first time since 1993, when they advanced to the Stanley Cup final. They will face Colorado in the second round.

"It's unbelievable," said Ian Laperriere, a seven-year veteran who'd never advanced to the second round. "That's what you dream when you're young. The real deal is the playoffs."

It was Detroit's earliest elimination since 1994, when San Jose upset the Red Wings in the first round.

"You're just in shock," said Darren McCarty, who scored to give Detroit a 2-1 lead. "In the first two games, we were like world beaters and then it all fell apart."

Fans seemed to be holding their collective breath in overtime, then exploded in applause and cheers when Deadmarsh scored on the rebound of a shot by Jozef Stumpel. The crowd littered the ice with giveaway black pom pons as the Kings celebrated by piling on top of Deadmarsh.

Stumpel skated up the right side and fired a shot at Detroit goalie Chris Osgood, who made the save but had the puck bounce out to Deadmarsh on the left side.

"I happened to be a bit backdoor and had half the net to shoot it," said Deadmarsh, who arrived in February as part of a deal that sent superstar defenceman Rob Blake to Colorado.

The second-round series begins Thursday in Denver. The Avs swept Vancouver in four games.

"It's going to be exciting," Deadmarsh said of facing his old team. "I've really been looking forward to facing them in the second round."

Deadmarsh, who has 26 points against the Red Wings in 29 games, also forced overtime with the tying goal at 10:17 of the third period.

A shot by Ziggy Palffy busied Osgood, who had no time to adjust as Deadmarsh caught the puck in the air and slapped it through the goalie's legs to tie it 2-2.

"You try to read where the pucks go and I guessed right," Deadmarsh said.

The Red Wings again played without captain Steve Yzerman, who tested his injured left ankle by skating in warmups, but decided not to go. He played just six minutes of the best-of-seven series.

"Our problem is we haven't been rock solid protecting a lead in the third period," Yzerman said. "That was our downfall last year against Colorado. It's very disappointing, especially when you're a No. 2 seed and had high hopes."

Trailing 1-0, Detroit got back into the game with goals by Pat Verbeek and McCarty 2:22 apart in the second.

Verbeek tied it on a power-play goal at 4:20 of the second. The Kings' Stu Grimson was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct when he knocked Tomas Holmstrom to the ice before a faceoff at centre ice.

McCarty, playing on an injured ankle, gave Detroit a 2-1 lead nearly 2½ minutes later. He skated out from behind the net, paused, and then shot the puck under Felix Potvin's right arm.

The Kings led 1-0 on a power-play goal by Stumpel at 2:19 of the first period. Detroit's Igor Larionov, rarely seen in the penalty box, went off for high-sticking 50 seconds into the game. Stumpel skated in from the far left side and angled the puck through Osgood's legs.

The Kings had a goal disallowed at 12:30 of the first that would've given them a 2-0 lead. A shot by Mathieu Schneider hit the right post and was kicked in by the left foot of Luc Robitaille, who landed in the net after being shoved from behind by Jiri Fischer.

After a video review, supervisor of officials John D'Amico ruled Robitaille made a distinct kicking motion, and the goal didn't count. No penalty was called on Fischer.


Deadmarsh, Kings come all way back, eliminate Wings
April 24, 2001
BY NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

LOS ANGELES -- Again, the Red Wings blew a third-period lead and lost in overtime. But this time, they didn't just lose the game. They lost the season.

Adam Deadmarsh, a Wings-killer dating back to his days with Colorado, scored his second goal of the game 4:48 into overtime Monday night, giving the Kings a 3-2 win and a 4-2 victory in their first-round playoff series.

After winning Games 1 and 2, the Wings lost four in a row -- doubling their longest losing streak of the regular season. They lost in the first round for the first time since 1994, when San Jose upset them in seven games.

The Wings took a 2-1 lead into the third period, thanks to second-period goals by Pat Verbeek and Darren McCarty, after Jozef Stumpel scored a power-play goal early in the first for the Kings.

But Deadmarsh batted in a rebound with 9:43 to go in the third. Deadmarsh nearly won the game for the Kings with 23.8 seconds left in regulation, tipping a shot. Then he did win it in OT, batting in a rebound again.

In Game 4, the Wings blew a 3-0 lead with less than 6 1/2 minutes left in the third and lost in overtime.

Captain Steve Yzerman, who left after the first period of Game 1 with an injured left ankle, warmed up with the Wings but decided not to play. He had said he would play only if he could play well, and judging by the way he favored the ankle as he skated, that didn't seem possible.

Brendan Shanahan, with a broken bone in his left foot, stayed behind in Detroit.

And as if that weren't bad enough, the Wings fell behind in the opening moments.

Coach Scotty Bowman started the all-Russian line that played well in the third period of Game 5: Sergei Fedorov between Slava Kozlov and Igor Larionov. The line had a decent shift, but at the end of it, Larionov took a high-sticking penalty.

And Stumpel scored on the power play at 2:18. From the corner to goaltender Chris Osgood's right, he stickhandled past defenseman Chris Chelios, somehow avoided the sticks of Chelios and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, and flipped the puck between Osgood's legs.

Only 1:01 later, the Wings went on the power play, but they couldn't counter. The Kings attacked. Behind the Detroit net, Fedorov banked the puck off the boards under pressure, but no one was there. Kings forward Zigmund Palffy had a chance in front, and Osgood stopped him.


Wings forward Kris Draper went off for cross-checking at 11:21 of the first. During the power play, the Kings put the puck in the net, but video replay officials ruled no goal. Defenseman Mathieu Schneider hit the goal frame. The puck bounced off forward Luc Robitaille in the crease behind Osgood. Defenseman Jiri Fischer knocked Robitaille into the net, and as Robitaille fell, he swiped the puck in with a leg.

The Wings outshot the Kings in the first, 10-9. They outshot them in the second, 9-6. Stumpel went off for interference at 1:18. The Wings came close twice but didn't score. But then Kings forward Stu Grimson dumped Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom while the two lined up for a faceoff. Grimson went off for unsportsmanlike conduct at 4:08, and the tone of the game.

Only 12 seconds into their power play, the Wings got a fluke goal, perhaps just the break they needed. Along the right-wing boards, Verbeek tried to throw the puck to the the point, and it hit Stumpel. The puck skidded toward the L.A. net. Goaltender Felix Potvin put his paddle down, under pressure from Wings forward Martin Lapointe, and deflected the puck into his own net by mistake. Because Verbeek was the Wing who last touched the puck, he got credit for the goal.

McCarty scored at 6:42, giving the Wings a 2-1 lead and a shot of confidence. He grabbed the puck behind the L.A. net, stepped low in the left faceoff circle and fired the puck past Potvin short-side, and Potvin stayed down.

The Kings nearly responded right afterward, when Palffy broke away on Osgood. But Fedorov bothered him from behind and Osgood, lying on his back, got a piece of Palffy's shot with his left skate.


Contact NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA at 313-222-8831 or cotsonika@freepress.com.