Detroit were hoping to steal a game away from home and level the series, the Sharks were hoping for a 2nd consecutive home win. Modano was still a healthy scratch for Detroit as the lineups remained the same.
The Redwings started well with Zetterberg getting a couple of shots in nearside that Niemi comfortably saved within 30 seconds. Clowe then made a high hit on Rafalski behind Howard and was called for roughing after 59 seconds. Niemi managed to fend off 2 or 3 more shots on the penalty kill but Detroit had started well.
That momentum was killed at 3.11 as Abdelkader took an offensive zone penalty, not seeing Couture coming and catching him in the face with his stick. Ian White punished Detroit for taking this penalty as he just blasted a slapshot through traffic high stick side on Howard at 4.54
The Redwings came back and put more pressure on the Sharks net with all 3 forwards scrambling to knock the puck home at one point infront of the San Jose net. Just after this Abdelkader was hit by Ferriero's stick and he drew a 4 minute double minor as Abdelkader was cut.
It took Detroit almost 2 minutes to get control inside the Sharks zone and looking at setting something up and when they did Datsyuk could only rattle the post with a shot from the face off dot. Nearly 8 minutes of the opening 11 had been powerplay time and San Jose were the ones who had taken advantage of their chance and had the 1-0 lead. As the Sharks killed off the 4 minutes Howard pulled a comfortable glove save off on a Boyle shot.
Finally there was a period of 5 on 5 which went end to end as both teams tried to get a foothold in the game and get on top.
Both number 44's were called for penalties with 3.52 left in the period to open the ice as the teams went 4 on 4. Zetterberg picked up a high sticking call with 2.33 left to give the Sharks around 40 seconds of 4 on 3. Howard took a shot in the mask and had to get the game stopped as the clip on his mask had broke. This took the game to the point where Bertuzzi and Vlasic could return and the teams played out the rest of the penalty to Zetterberg and the rest of the period.
Franzen had the 1st chance of the 2nd period, snapping a shot from the circle but straight into Niemi. Detroit were getting the early pressure again but took a penalty in the offensive zone as Holmstrom got called for holding. Helm got a steal at mid ice and went 1 on 1 with Niemi at the start of the penalty but couldn't put it through the netminders legs. Miller nearly had another break away with just over a minute of the penalty gone but he was stopped illegally by Pavlski and he took 2 minutes off the ice.
Detroit had good minute on their end of the powerplay but Niemi made 1 good pad save and the Sharks still had the 1-0 lead 6 minutes into the period.
Eager and Bertuzzi scuffle near bench, both get roughing minors.
As both players came back on and Niemi covered up a puck, Eager tried to engage Bertuzzi again. He had no interest in going with Eager and the San Jose player took 10 minute misconduct call.
Rafalski was the next player to the penalty box at 9.33 as he fired the puck straight into the penalty box and he went for delay of game. Howard and his defence came up big for the Redwings as the Sharks had nearly the full 2 minutes in their zone trying to force in a 2nd goal.
Howard continued to make the saves, a big pad save off a Heatley tip with 7 minutes left was his next good oe. The Sharks defence fired the puck in wide of the net looking for the tip, almost reminissant of a Redwings play.
The Sharks got another puck past Howard with just under 5 minutes left as Murray took the puck to the front of the net and sneaked it through his pads. However, as it trickled to go over the line Datsyuk got his stick on it to clear it.
San Jose were getting more going and putting the Redwings under pressur for most of the period once the penalties were all out of the way. It took Detroit until the final 2 minutes to trouble Niemi again but he came up with a couple of good scrambling saves that meant the score stayed at 1-0 going into the 3rd.
The Sharks had the pressure on Howard again for the start of the 3rd period and they took a 2-0 lead as Wallin fired an innocent looking shot coming down the wing and as the netminder tried to fight it off with his glove he seemed to knock it against his own mask and it went over and in behind him.
Thornton took a 2 minute penalty for interference at 2.50 of the period and Detroit now needed a huge powerplay goal after their earlier ones had failed. Lidstrom took a blast from the point which Niemi saved but Holmstrom got in a scuffle infront and got a roughing call to cancel the powerplay chance.
Setoguchi had a great chance on Howard as he got in behind the Detroit defence but he slipped the puck across the netminder and just wide.
Niemi then made a couple of great saves with his pads, 1 from a Lidstrom blast and another as Datsyuk tried to stick in the rebound. A 3rd save was made as Zetterberg hit the puck at the netminder was prone on the floor and the net came off as puck bounced clear of the net.
There were then a couple of 2 on 1 breaks for the Sharks, the first one resulting in a shot rattling off the post and the second smothered by Howard on the pass across the crease.
A slashing call against Setoguchi with 6.38 left gave Detroit their 6th powerplay chance off the game. They finally got themselves on the board and back in the game as a perfect feed Datsyuk from the wing found Zetterberg skating in between the circles and snapping it home.
Lidstrom hit an absolute rocket on a wrist shot that rattled the near post on Niemi with 2.30 left and the Sharks kept their 2-1 lead.
Detroit pulled Howard for just under the last minute of play but despite forcing an offensive zone face off with just over 13 seconds remaining they couldn't stop San Jose registering their second 2-1 win of the series.
Hugely dissapointed tonight as a Wings fan. Again they didn't turn up for long periods and the powerplay just never looked like scoring. San Jose did enough to win the game and probably should have scored more. It had looked promising at the start but a penalty littered first 30 minutes took away any early promise and now Detroit will have to get the job done at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment