Detroit Red Wings double-up Phoenix Coyotes, 4-2: NHL Play-off Recap
Valtteri Filppula lit the lamp early in the middle session and the Detroit Red Wings used a three-goal burst to take down the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-2, in Game 3 of the Western Conference
quarter-final series, at Jobing.com Arena on Monday night.
Ruslan Salei and Johan Franzen both also hit the net for Detroit, which hold a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and levelled Phoenix in its previous play-off game, getting rid of them
with a 6-1 victory in Game 7 of previous year's first round.
Drew Miller added another goal and Jimmy Howard turned away 28 shots to earn the victory.
David Schlemko and Ray Whitney each found the back of the net for Phoenix, which got 34 saves from Ilya Bryzgalov in the loss.
"I think we can relax a little bit now. There's nothing really to lose," Whitney said. "It's not a position we want to be in for sure ... Play as hard as you can in Game 4 and hopefully
you can extend it."
Detroit took command of the play by scoring two goals in the first period. The first goal came about two minutes into the game when Darren Helm knocked the Coyotes' defender, Ed Jovanovski,
off the puck behind the net and Salei ripped a blast shot from the right point that found its way through a screen and into the net.
The Red Wings took a two-goal edge, 2-0, just 44 seconds later, when Niklas Kronwall unleashed a point shot from the right point and Miller deflected it past stunned goalie.
"We came out with a good start. Our third and fourth lines did a great job in the first period," Kronwall said.
Howard then made nine saves in the first period to keep the Coyotes off the board and Filppula extended the lead to 3-0 less than three minutes into the middle session. The goal came when
a right circle face-off win saw Jiri Hudler slip a pass from the right boards to the slot for Filppula, who stretched it over to the left side and jammed it home.
The Coyotes finally got on the board on the power-play with a little over eight minutes left in the second period, as Schlemko skated from the low left circle to the upstairs on the short-side
and stuffed the puck home to make it 3-1 game.
Detroit restored its three-goal edge, 4-1, just 45 seconds into the final session, when Franzen was sprung on the breakaway and banged a shot to beat Bryzgalov over the glove side.
Phoenix cut the deficit in half, 4-2, on a power-play with seven minutes left in the third period. It started when Whitney slammed a slap shot from the left circle that was saved, but
the rebound hit off Salei in front and went home.
However, the Coyotes failed to creep within another goal any further.
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