San Jose Sharks edge past Detroit Red Wings, 2-1: NHL Play-off Recap
Niclas Wallin lit the lamp early in the final session as the San Jose Sharks held on for its second straight 2-1 victory against the Detroit Red Wings in Game 2 of this best-of-seven Western
Conference semi-final series, at the HP Pavilion on Sunday night.
"At the end of the day, the two teams are pretty darn even," said the San Jose's head coach, Todd McLellan. "I think you're going to continue to see this. It's going to be a bounce or
a break that goes one way. But if anybody should let their guard down, whether it's us or them, the other team is going to make them pay."
Ian White also found the back of the net and Antti Niemi stopped 33 shots for San Jose, which has won 10 of 12 games against the Red Wings and took Detroit to the second round for the
second year in a row, eventually ousting the Red Wings in five games.
Henrik Zetterberg was the lone scorer for Detroit, which found itself in a familiar territory, facing a 2-0 deficit to San Jose heading back to Detroit and hoping to change its fortunes
when the series shifts to Detroit for Game 3 and 4 starting on Wednesday night.
Jimmy Howard was again impressive between the pipes for Detroit, turning away 35 shots, but he got little help from his team-mates.
San Jose drew the first blood about five minutes into the opening period. The play was set up when Detroit's forward Justin Abdelkader clipped Logan Couture, triggering an early power-play
for San Jose. White then fired a slap-shot from the high slot that beat screened Howard for 1-0 lead and for his first career play-off goal.
Moments later, Benn Ferriero was given a double-minor for high- sticking Abdelkader. Detroit, however, was unable to convert.
The second period remained goal-less as both netminders came up with big saves in a second period that featured plenty of hard hits, scoring opportunities and enmity. Niemi blocked Darren
Helm’s shot on a short-handed breakaway early in the period and then made two big saves on Zetterberg’s shots on the Red Wings' power-play shortly after that. Niemi made a nice save on Zetterberg’s shot in the last minute.
Howard was even better in the middle period, as San Jose held control on the play for much of the period, winning two thirds of the face-offs and out-shooting the Red Wings by 19-9.
Howard made great saves against Devin Setoguchi and Dan Boyle half-way through the period and then made a diving save on Patrick Marleau’s shot at the end of a power-play. Even when a
puck slipped away by Howard, San Jose failed to take advantage as Pavel Datsyuk cleared a loose puck from the goal-line after Douglas Murray almost scored a goal.
Wallin gave Sharks a two-goal edge, 2-0, just less than two minutes into the final session, when he rushed into the Detroit zone and ripped a shot that popped in the air after hitting
off Howard's shoulder and went into the net for his fourth goal in 83 post-season games.
Moments later, the Red Wings’ Tomas Holmstrom received a roughing penalty on Jason Demers to wipe out a power-play, and Niemi then kept preserving the lead with the big saves. He turned
aside Nicklas Lidstrom’s shot from the point, and then blocked rebound attempts by Danny Cleary and Zetterberg half-way through the third period.
Detroit eventually broke through with Zetterberg’s power-play tally with six minutes to play in the regulation. With the Sharks' forward, Setoguchi, in the penalty box for hooking, Zetterberg
took a pass from Datsyuk and jammed it home. But, the Red Wings failed to find the equaliser, with the best opportunity coming when Lidstrom hit the post with a little over two minutes remaining in the last period.
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