Detroit Red Wings triple up Phoenix Coyotes, 6-3: NHL Play-off Recap
Daniel Cleary lit the lamp with the go-ahead goal in the third period and assisted twice, as the Detroit Red Wings used a three-goal third period to knock-off the Phoenix Coyotes, 6-3, in Game 4 of Western Conference quarter-final series, at the Jobing.com
Arena on Wednesday night.
Patrick Eaves hit the net twice while Todd Bertuzzi scored a goal and earned an assist for Detroit, which also kicked Coyotes in seven contests during the first round of the 2010 post-season and is the first team to advance in this year's playoffs. Tomas
Holmstrom and Niklas Kronwall each also added a goal, while Jimmy Howard turned away 24-of-27 shots to pick up the win.
"We wanted to win tonight to get a few guys some rest," Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. "Getting those guys the extra days to get healthy is going to be big for us."
Shane Doan and Martin Hanzal both found the back of the net for Phoenix, which has never won a post-season series since moving to Phoenix from Winnipeg in 1996 and has dropped 18 games in its 20 all-time play-off matchups. Taylor Pyatt also notched a goal
and Ilya Bryzgalov halted 34 shots.
"Detroit was the better team and they won. I really want this organization to take the next step and get better, and not come into a series where you feel like you're behind the eight ball before you start. You have to have stability in the ownership and
build an organization that expects to play for a championship." Phoenix Head Voach, Dave Tippett, said disappointedly.
Holmstrom got the scoring of the game started just less than four minutes into the first period, when he took a pass from Pavel Datsyuk and jammed it home for 1-0 lead and his second goal of the series.
The Coyotes knotted it, 1-1, about two minutes later, when Pyatt attempted to send a cross-ice pass that hit off Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson's skate and flipped past Howard, who had no choice.
Doan then put Phoenix on top by 2-1 lead near the half-way point of the first period, when he ripped a wrist-shot from the right circle that caromed off Lidstrom's skate and squeezed through Howard's legs over the line.
Detroit then finished the first period at 2-2 deadlock, when Eaves posted a goal with 1:13 remaining. It happened so when Darren Helm held control of the puck behind the net, brought it to the side of Bryzgalov, and then dished it across the crease for Eaves,
who knocked it in with a one-timer.
The back-and-forth battle continued, as Coyotes went ahead by 3-2 edge again a little over one minute into the middle session. The goal came when Radim Vrbata took the puck into the slot and passed it to the left side of the net for Hanzal, who snapped a
wrist shot into the net.
Kronwall tied it 3-3 for Detroit on a power-play about 3 ½ minutes later, as he grabbed a loose puck in the slot and buried it into the top right corner of the net.
Cleary staked Detroit to 4-3 lead with more than six minutes left in the third period, when he got the loose puck along the left boards near the line and found himself alone. He then rifled a shot from almost an impossible angle. Bryzgalov attempted to block
it with his skate and pad along the post, but the puck trickled through a small opening, hitting off goal-tender's pad.
Bertuzzi then gave Detroit some relaxation and take the life out of Coyotes by pushing the lead to 5-3. Eaves sealed the win at 6-3 with an empty-netter with 36 seconds left in the regulation.
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