Gretzky Plays The Heavy In 1-0 Win

Wayne Gretzky took the weight off his shoulders and placed it squarely on the backs of the Detroit Red Wings.

After nine games of frustration, Gretzky scored his first goal of the playoffs. It was the only goal as Jon Casey, a rusty backup at the start of the postseason, threw a shutout at Detroit as the St. Louis Blues won 1-0 Friday night to even the series at 2-2.

Gretzky told reporters the goal was “probably more of a relief for you guys.

“I’m probably my own worst enemy in that a lot of things I’ve accomplished in my career, people just want to expect it all the time,” he said. “If that doesn’t materialize, people start to question what the situation is.”

Gretzky finally added to his NHL record with No. 111 when he scored on a break-in during a power play at 4:40 of the second period. He pulled up and shot rather than driving to the net, and put a shot between goalie Chris Osgood’s pads.

“My dad says 100 percent of the shots you don’t take don’t go in,” Gretzky said. “So I figured I’d take it. Believe me, I was probaby just as happy as anybody else in the building that it went in.”

Casey, 34, who gave up eight goals in Game 2, stopped 28 shots for his third career playoff shutout and first since 1991, the year he led the underdog Minnesota North Stars to the Stanley Cup finals. He also assisted on Gretzky’s goal.

Casey also has 16 career shutouts in the regular season, but none bigger than this. The Red Wings were not shut out in the regular season.

“We didn’t have a lot of opportunities to do the things we’ve done all season long,” Detroit forward Dino Ciccarelli said. “We’re playing a different team.”

The Blues surprised the heavily favored Red Wings, who set an NHL record with 62 regular-season victories, with consecutive victories at home, including 5-4 in overtime Wednesday night.

Game 5 is Sunday in Detroit.

Blues 1, Red Wings 0

Detroit 0 0 0 - 0 St. Louis 0 1 0 - 1

First period-None.

Second period-1, St. Louis, Gretzky 1 (Corson, Casey), 4:40 (pp).

Third period-None.

Shots on goal-Detroit 4-13-12-29. St. Louis 6-4-5-15.Powerplay opp.-Detroit 0 of 4; St. Louis 1 of 4.Goalies-Detroit, Osgood 4-2 (15 shots-14 saves). St. Louis, Casey 5-4 (29-29).A-20,796 (19,260).