Leave it to the Eastern Conference to have a one-sided series in
the semifinal rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Vancouver is up
3-2 over Nashville in Western Conference competition with a sixth
game Monday night, while Detroit did its part in making the other
Western Conference semifinal another nail-biter, scoring three
goals in the third period to pull out a 4-3 victory over the host
San Jose Sharks Sunday.
SAN JOSE
Leave it to the Eastern Conference to have a one-sided series in the semifinal rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Vancouver is up 3-2 over Nashville in Western Conference competition with a sixth game Monday night, while Detroit did its part in making the other Western Conference semifinal another nail-biter, scoring three goals in the third period to pull out a 4-3 victory over the host San Jose Sharks Sunday.
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So while Boston and Tampa Bay await the start of the conference finals after four-game sweeps, San Jose travels to Detroit for a Tuesday night game. The Sharks hold a 3-2 lead in the series. A seventh game, if needed, would be Thursday at HP Pavilion.
Tuesday’s game kicks off at 5 p.m.
San Jose generated a 3-1 lead just 54 seconds into the third period, only to give up the final three goals of the game.
Detroit scored the three goals on five shots in a 13-minute stretch. San Jose finished with a 42-22 edge in shots on net.
“We’re very confident,” San Jose captain Joe Thornton said. “We’re still feeling good about ourselves. A couple of careless plays and they put it in.”
San Jose took care of the scoring in the first period, when Devin Setoguchi skated across the slot to redirect a long shot from Dan Boyle past goaltender Jimmy Howard at 17:18.
The Sharks earned the first of two two-goal leads in the second period when Joe Pavelski chipped in a cross-ice pass from Ryane Clowe to complete a 2-on-1 rush at 15:32.
“We had a number of chances, especially in the second period, 2-on-1’s,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said.
Detroit needed only 53 seconds to push its first goal past San Jose goaltender Antti Niemi to make it 2-1.
As the puck was battled for at the left boards in the San Jose zone, Niklas Kronwall skated to an open area at the top of the slot. Kronwall accepted Pavel Datsyuk’s pass and slipped a high shot into the left corner of the net at 16:25 as Niemi was screened by one defenseman and Detroit’s Tomas Holdstrom.
The Sharks gained a 3-1 lead with 54 seconds gone in the third period. Niemi’s save of a shot from the right flank left a long rebound near the blue line. Dany Heatley controlled the puck, advanced to the Detroit zone and slipped a pass to an unmarked Logan Couture. The San Jose rookie completed the play by pulling a back-hander under Howard for his fourth goal of the postseason.
The Red Wings regrouped to trail 3-2 at 3:43 of the third on Jonathan Ericcson’s first postseason goal. Henrik Zetterberg had the primary assist, finding Ericcson ready in the low slot with a pass from the end boards. Datsyuk earned the second assist.
Detroit earned the 3-3 tie at 5:29 when Danny Cleary’s wrap-around effort netted the goal despite the effort of Setoguchi and Niemi defending at the left post.
Datsyuk produced his third assist of the game on the deciding goal at 13:52. Datsyuk’s pass from the side boards allowed Nicklas Lidstrom to set up for a hard shot from the blue line. Holmstrom parked in front of the net, then redirected the puck over Niemi’s pad for the 4-3 lead.
“The fourth one’s always the hardest one,” Couture said. “They are not going to give up easily. Leads are never safe. (Detroit) made us pay for our mistakes and they capitalized.”
Detroit coach Mike Babcock noted the strong performance of Datsyuk in the closing 20 minutes.
“We answered back. Pavel was unbelievable in the third. The penalty killing saved us. We battled and hung in there, and good goaltending helps,” Babcock said.
Detroit was able to stop all four San Jose power plays.
“We didn’t play a poor game,” McLellan said. “We didn’t give up many opportunities. We made some mistakes and world-class players capitalized on them.”
