Ducks knot series 1-1 in OT
Hasek fought the puck and the puck won
Scott Niedermayer scored the game winner from the right faceoff circle at the 14:17 mark of overtime to tie the best of seven series at one win apiece. With their 4-3 win Anaheim has taken the home ice advantage in the series as the two teams head out west for Game Three on Tuesday night. The Ducks allowed two power play goals and one short-handed goal but were able to overcome those obstacles by scoring an even-strength goal in each period.
Detroit coach Mike Babcock split up his top line and had Henrik Zetterberg play on a line with Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson. Valtteri Filppula took Hank’s spot on the top line. Anaheim once again outshot the Wings 33 to 27. The fact they were able to overcome Detroit’s advantage in special teams play means they are likely to stick with their gameplan as it helped them split the first two games in Detroit.
Detroit looked to seize control of the game late in the second period when Nick Lidstrom scored a power play goal when he skated in from the left point and put a shot past Ducks netminder Jean Sebastien Giguere. That tally tied the score at 2-2 at the 16:07 mark of the period. Anaheim took two penalties very late in the period to give Detroit a 5 on 3 power play opportunity. The Wings would cash in on that opportunity early in the third period when Robert Lang made a great pass to Pavel Datsyuk, who was sitting on the doorstep of the goal to Giguere’s left and buried the puck. That goal at the 1:03 mark of the third gave Detroit their first lead of the game 3-2.
While the Ducks took 7 penalties, they also did a better job of picking their spots to intensify their forecheck. Much like the series against San Jose it was successful on several occasions in keeping the Wings pinned into their own zone. After Travis Moen tied the score at 3-3 at the 5:06 mark of the third, the Ducks were able to draw a delay of game penalty on Mikael Samuelsson at the 8:50 mark of overtime when he put the puck over the glass with his clearing attempt. The Ducks would not score on the power play but it helped turn momentum in their favor.
Nick Lidstrom logged heavy minutes as he led all skaters with 38:51 of ice time. He had a goal and an assist but went -2. Chris Chelios, Danny Markov, Anreas Lilja and Brett Lebda all skated between 21 and 27 minutes. Domink Hasek had a rough game as two shots that would typically be saves squirted past him for goals. There was really nothing he could about Rob Niedermayer’s goal (17:04 of the first) or Scott Niedermayer’s game-winner. Kirk Maltby scored the other goal for Detroit when he put a rebound from his own shot past Giguere while on the penalty kill.
The Red Wings are in the exact same position they were in after the first two games against San Jose. The difference in their favor is their special teams are much more effective: 100% on the penalty kill, 4 for 11 on the power play (36.3%) and have tallied one short handed goal. The one thing that has to be a concern is that the Ducks have a 5-1 advantage in even-strength goals. If the Ducks can improve their special teams play they will be in good shape going forward. That will probably be necessary for them as their gameplan is likely to put them on the penalty kill much more often that it is to put them on the power play.
The key thing to watch from a Red Wings perspective is how Dominik Hasek responds to tonight’s game. Whenever he has an off-night - and tonight was clearly one of them - he tends to respond in a very positive manner. If that is the case the Red Wings will have a good chance to re-claim the home ice advantage for the series on Tuesday night. Anaheim Ducks NHL Playoffs Red Wings
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