DETROIT, Mich – The 2009 NHL Winter Classic featured the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings. There were many who saw that contest as a primer to the post season.
But with this much on the line?
On Thursday night the Red Wings closed out the pesky Ducks in a classic 7-game series by a 4-3 score.
The Ducks did not give an inch throughout the game or series and had the Wings looking for answers late into regulation in final game. For Detroit fans it was excruciating wait for Dan Cleary to seal the game and series.
Dan Cleary. Photo courtesy of the NHL.
On a pass from the corner Cleary shoveled the puck on net and Jonas Hiller made the save. The puck was under the goalie’s pads but visible enough for the referee to keep the whistle away from his lips. It was also enough time for Cleary to bang away at the puck again and loosen it from the pads and across the goal line. The slow whistle certainly miffed the Anaheim bench but to no avail.
Cleary’s heroics were necessitated when Bobby Ryan knotted the score at three with about eight minutes gone in the third period. A broken offensive play led to the goal after a scrum in the low slot. Chris Osgood lost sight of the puck but Ryan didn’t.
Jiri Hudler gave the Wings an early 1-0 lead off a perfect tip in the first period and Darren Helm added a goal for a 2-0 lead.
But the Ducks chipped away on goals by Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry in the second. Those goals were sandwiched around a Mikael Samuelsson goal for Detroit. Coming out of the second intermission the Wings held the tenuous 3-2 lead.
The Wings outshot the Ducks 40-27 and commanded much of the game but the Ducks stayed in the game to the end.
Now the Red Wings move on to meet their Original Six sibling, the Blackhawks who have a host of young, hungry players fresh from dumping the Canucks from the post season.
Early prediction? Game 7 goes to Blackhawks.
Contact lou.lafrado@prohockeynews.com
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