Undermanned Red Wings push Chicago to the edge

Sunday night, the Detroit Red Wings proved why they are considered by many to be the odds-on favorites to repeat as Stanley Cup champions this season. Despite being without the services of Pavel Datsyuk for a second consecutive game, and missing the play of injured captain Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit relied on spectacular special teams play to rout the Blackhawks 6-1, and put themselves in a very favorable position to make a return trip to the Cup Finals.

Marian Hossa opened the scoring with a short-handed marker on a 2-on-1 rush with Valtteri Filppula, beating Cristobal Huet, who started in place of the injured Khabibulin. Johan Franzen chipped in a goal with a long wrist shot that floated past Huet and put the Wings up 2-0 with under 30 seconds to play in the first. A questionable roughing call at the end of the period gave the Red Wings a great opportunity to start the second period, and Filppula recorded his second of 3 points in the game, scoring a powerplay goal a little over a minute into the period.

The Blackhawks tried to get back in the game, as young superstar Jonathan Toews finally beat Osgood on a powerplay a few minutes after Filppula’s goal. However, Hossa ensured that any chances of a Chicago rally would be stifled as he picked up the puck in the neutral zone and flashed down the ice, beating Huet again and prompting Chicago coach Joel Quenneville to replace him with 3rd string goalie Corey Crawford. Crawford gave up a quick goal to Henrik Zetterberg, who scored a powerplay goal to put the Red Wings up 5-1. Huet returned to action for the 3rd period, but was also bested by Zetterberg during a Detroit powerplay nearly 13 minutes into the period.

On a positive note for the Blackhawks, Martin Havlat returned to the ice after being leveled in Game 3 by Niklas Kronwall. Detroit extended their dubious NHL record of consecutive games with a powerplay goal allowed in the postseason to 13.