Detroit Red Wings make historic come-back to force Game 7 against San Jose Sharks – NHL Play-offs
The Detroit Red Wings are closer than ever to finally making history and grabbing the Western Conference semi-final series as they defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-1, for the third consecutive time to force a game seven decider at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit,
Michigan on Tuesday.
San Jose has been pressed into an embarrassing situation as it will fight to not become the fourth team in National Hockey League play-off history which has lost a seven game series in the final matchup after having a 3-0 lead in the beginning. Detroit has
become the second team in the post-season to have recovered after a 3-0 deficit, the first being the Chicago Blackhawks against the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference quarter-finals.
The first and second period remained scoreless for both teams as their respective goalies lockdown the opposing offence. The Red Wings out-shot the Sharks by a huge 45-25 difference throughout the game as visiting goalie Antti Niemi played well in front
of the net by making 42 of 44 saves. Home goalie Jimmy Howard had a near shut-out as he blocked 24 of 25 attempts, with the most crucial being in the final period.
"I thought we had a little dip there for three or four minutes after they scored," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "(Jimmy Howard) had to make a couple of saves. But we got our game going again, and we were right back on top of them."
The Sharks’ superstar rookie, Logan Couture scored for them within the opening four minutes of the final period to give his team a good chance at winning. Taking a lead in the third period especially during the play-offs is always something a team wishes
for but it sparked a Detroit shooting frenzy which would make the Sharks regret it.
The sold-out home crowd went wild after Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula both scored their second of the post-season nearly two minutes apart from each other, making and breaking the tie at the same time. Darren Helm scored the final goal of the game
and secured Detroit’s victory when he fired a goal on an empty net with 1:05 remaining. Both teams managed to kill all of their penalties throughout the game, lessening the chances for the other team to score.
"I thought one team skated and the other team didn't skate at all," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. "That was pretty evident right through the first two periods. We started to find some legs in the third. We were fortunate that our goaltender gave us a
chance to even be remotely involved in the game in the third period.”
The Red Wings are pumped up and excited to make a historical come-back when they play in game seven against the Sharks on Thursday night at the HP Pavilion Centre in San Jose, California.
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