GLENDALE, Arizona -- Henrik Zetterberg scored three goals, including two in the third period, as the Detroit Red Wings posted a 7-4 win over the Phoenix Coyotes Friday night, evening their Western Conference Semifinal matchup at one game apiece.
Zetterberg opened the scoring for Detroit at 6:27 of the second period, taking a feed from Valtteri Filppula to snap a shot past Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov from the slot. It was the first of two power play goals for the Red Wings and tied the game at one.
Phoenix responded just 38 seconds later, when a miscommunication between netminder Jimmy Howard and defenseman Niklas Kronwall left the puck available for Wojtek Wolski to bang past Howard.
The Red Wings tied things back up at 8:20 of the period. Johan Franzen threw the puck to the net, then, at the top of the crease, Pavel Datsyuk reached through the legs of defenseman Adrian Aucoin to get his stick on the puck and deflect it over Bryzgalov's shoulder.
The Coyotes responded quickly again, with Matthew Lombardi racing the length of the ice, splitting the defense, and beating Howard five-hole 49 seconds after Datsyuk's goal.
Valtteri Filppula made it five goals in a 3:58 span when he outraced Zbynek Michalek to the puck in the Phoenix end and beat Bryzgalov with a backhander to tie the game at four.
Justin Abdelkader, inserted into the lineup in place of Jason Williams to give Detroit a more physical presence, gave the Red Wings their first lead of the game at 2:32 of the third period. He stole the puck from Wolski as Wolski tried to carry it out of the Phoenix end, then raced in on Bryzgalov and snapped a shot past him.
Shane Doan would tie the game back up at 9:24 of the period, beating Howard on a feed from Vernon Fiddler on a two-on-one after Brian Rafalski pinched in at the Phoenix blue line.
Zetterberg scored his second of the night for the eventual game-winner, banging the rebound of a Todd Bertuzzi shot past Bryzgalov with 6:06 remaining.
Filppula added his second on a Detroit power play with 2:06 left in the third, snapping a shot from the right faceoff circle into the top corner of the net.
Zetterberg completed the hat trick with an empty net goal in the game's final minute to round out the scoring.
Keith Yandle had opened the game's scoring midway through the first period when he backhanded the rebound of a Martin Hanzal shot over Howard.
The Red Wings reversed their special teams fortunes from Game One, where they scored on only one of six power plays and allowed three goals on four penalty kills. In Game Two they scored on two of three power plays and held the Coyotes off the board on Phoenix's four tries with the extra attacker.
Howard stopped 27 of 31 shots against for his first career playoff win. Bryzgalov made 32 saves on 38 shots.
Game Three will be Sunday afternoon in Detroit.
I still believe the lilja erricsson pair is our weak spot and will continue to hamper the team. They are slow to recover pucks when shot in deep behind the net, its all downhill from there on most occasions. lilja/lebda pair PLEASE its way better combination of speed and grit. puck moving d-man in lebda... Must put lebda in.
I wanna see Doan Kronwalled!
I wanna see Doan Kronwalled!
sh*t, I'd settle for Kronwall hitting anyone. No hits in G1?
Get off our f*cking goalie!
f*cking sweet. Ugh.
Not an awful period. I was shocked that the Wings had won 7 of 10 defensive zone faceoffs, it didn't feel like they were doing that well. I only remember them winning one battle along the boards in their own end. Gotta be better than that.
Thank gog for Zetterberg.
I'm with Mickey, "You've gotta be kidding me."
*blink*
Holy...
Jimmy. Either you're the number one goalie or not.
Hey Jovo, how's that hit look now?
This game is going nuts.
What in the hell is going on with this game? Hahaha. The back and forth goals thing is crazy.
Someone explain to me how you can throw people down in front of the net and it's legal.
Given how fantastic the Wings' offense was going in that period, I don't think it's unreasonable to say it's disappointing to not be in the lead right now.
WTF is up with our D-men pinching so much. Way too much pinching especially when slow pair lilja/erricsson out there. Leading to breakouts the other way. Insane second period by the way
Justin!
Massive kill.
godmotherf*ckingdammit
WHY MUST THEY CONTINUE TO PINCH
leads to 2 on 1, goal>>. FFS
blowing game
Yeah, definitely the wrong time to pinch there.
Another big kill.
For the record, the Wings haven't had a power play since their first goal.
Zata. There's a reason he gets the supermodels.
Fil!
Curly fries!
Huge. Now it's a five-game series with the Wings having home ice.
yotes were pinching as were wings allowing for more open ice. A gameplay style in which wings can dominate in. Bad move for coyotes to be overly aggressive. Wings were at times too but after the 5th goal they realized they didn't have to pinch up with the lead.
What a game! I was riding the emotional supercoaster in the second period. I called the curly fries by zata! Take it back to HockeyTown boys!
Henrik Zetterberg
Credit: Clark Rasmussen
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