The Red Wings moved one victory away from hockey history Tuesday
night. They needed nearly 40 shots and more than 50 minutes before
finally burying one of the dozens of great scoring chances they had
on Antti Niemi, but Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula’s
third-period goals propelled the Wings to a 3-1 victory at Joe
Louis Arena and forced a Game 7 on Thursday night in San Jose.
DETROIT
The Red Wings moved one victory away from hockey history Tuesday night.
They needed nearly 40 shots and more than 50 minutes before finally burying one of the dozens of great scoring chances they had on Antti Niemi, but Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula’s third-period goals propelled the Wings to a 3-1 victory at Joe Louis Arena and forced a Game 7 on Thursday night in San Jose.
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A week ago, the Wings trailed the second-round series, 3-0. Now they’re on the cusp of becoming the just the fourth team in NHL history to overcome such a deficit.
Zetterberg and Logan Couture traded third-period goals 6 minutes apart. Couture scored when he batted Dany Heatley’s rebound at Jimmy Howard, who got a piece of the puck but couldn’t stop it from slipping underneath and crawling across the goal line. Zetterberg repliled when he tipped Niklas Kronwall’s shot at 10:38. Filppula set the whole thing up, carrying the puck into San Jose’s zone, turning around Jason Demers and finding Kronwall, whose shot was deflected glove side.
Filppula followed through with his first goal of the series, collecting the puck at center ice and sending it to Pavel Datsyuk while going hard up the right side, just in time to flick in Datsyuk’s pass to give the Wings the lead. Darren Helm scored into an empty net with 65 seconds remaining, the score finally reflecting how hard the Wings had worked all game.
They owned the game from the start, outshooting the Sharks, 11-2, midway through the first period. Howard had to make a close save when Benn Ferreiro got in on a breakaway, one of just six shots the Sharks got all period.
For all their work, the Wings couldn’t get anything past Niemi. He made 18 saves just in the opening 20 minutes, four fewer than the 22 shots he faced all of Game 5.
The Wings kept at it as the second period got underway, cycling the puck around and around San Jose’s zone. Drew Miller just missed on one rebound, sending a wrist shot wide after connecting on Helm’s shot. Todd Bertuzzi was denied on a backhand try.
The Wings got two fantastic chances after Datsyuk went off for a double minor, retaliating with right fist to Torrey Mitchell’s face after Mitchell punched Datsyuk as the two were being separated by officials. During the penalty kill, Helm and Zetterberg rushed into the offensive zone, Zetterberg along the wall, Helm up the middle. Zetterberg centered the puck, but Helm whiffed.
The biggest groan came from Danny Cleary, though, as he erupted out of the penalty box having served one of the calls on Datsyuk, caught the puck and sped off, veering to the left. Cleary had a good chunk of open net after deking only to bang the puck off the goal post.
Niemi made another 14 saves in the second period, and saw 44 shots before the night ended.
— Story by Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press
