DETROIT, Mich – There is no doubt that Detroit Red Wings are an outstanding offensive team. They are also an opportunistic team that can turn mistakes into goals in a hurry.
Taking advantage of a mental lapse, Mikael Samuelsson scored his fifth goal of the playoffs at 5:14 of overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a hard-fought 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena. The victory give the ‘Wings a two games to none lead in the best-of-seven game series as the teams head to Chicago for Game 3 on Friday night.
Samuelsson’s score came just moments after Chicago had almost won the game but were denied by goalie Chris Osgood. The puck went back to the point where Chicago’s Brian Campbell attempted to make a cross-point pass. The pass was intercepted by Samuelsson who broke out three-on-one with teammates Valtteri Filppula and Jiri Hudler. The trio worked the puck into the Blackhawks end where Filppula laid a perfect drop pass on the stick of Samuelsson who snapped a shot past ‘Hawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin for the game-winner.
Neither team was willing to abandon the up-tempo pace from Game 1 and it forced the goalies to be ready early. Detroit’s Osgood was the first to be tested when Chicago’s Dustin Byfuglien ripped off a shot that Osgood had to be quick on. Down the other end, Blackhawks net minder Khabibulin had his first testing save on a shot from Samuelsson that took a hop off the ice and off of Khabibulin’s shoulder. Then it was Osgood’s turn again as Campbell had a chance from 15 feet out in the slot that Osgood snared.
Midway through the period, Chicago was hit with a too many men on the ice penalty. Detroit’s power play unleashed a flurry of shots that Khabibulin stopped with a combination of solid positioning and a fast glove.
Not too long after that, the Red Wings were nabbed for a pair of infractions, giving the Blackhawks’ number one playoff power play almost a minute of five-on-three advantage. Although they lined up several shots, the ‘Hawks failed to put any on net. The remaining time on the second call proved to be the key for Chicago as they finally hit the board. Martin Havlat got the puck down low where captain Jonathan Toews corralled it. Toews skated it just above the goal line, looking to make a cross crease pass. The puck hit the skate of Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson and deflected past Osgood for the game’s opening goal at the 12:49 mark.
As they had in Game 1, Detroit dug in looking for the tying score and its second power play was the perfect opportunity. With Toews off for tripping, Pavel Datsyuk won a face-off in the Chicago end. Datsyuk sent the puck to Nicklas Lidstrom who passed it to Brian Rafalski at the point. Tomas Holmstrom set a huge screen in front of Khabibulin, allowing Rafalski to fire a shot that the Blackhawks goalie never saw until it was in behind him. Two more glove saves by Osgood on Havlat and Patrick Kane kept the score tied at the intermission.
The second period was more of the same as the teams took turns going up and down the ice. One of the best opportunities belonged to Chicago as Dave Bolland stole the puck at center ice and broke in on Osgood. Instead of going all the way in, Bolland took a shot from the slot that Osgood handled.
A lull in the action set the stage for Cleary and his latest heist. Once again his victim was Brent Seabrook as like it did in Game 1, the puck took a bounce away from the Chicago defenseman, allowing Cleary to grab it and take off. Cleary made a couple of moves and beat Khabibulin for his third tally of the series at 14:06 to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead that they took into the final period.
The start of the third period was just as wild as the first two stanzas had been as both teams wanted that next goal. The action was frenetic and at times helter-skelter, which was fine for the Red Wings as long as Chicago didn’t score.
As the clock ticked past the midpoint of the period, the Blackhawks started to sense time slipping away and ramped up their efforts to tie the score. Following a long shift and intense Chicago pressure, Detroit took an icing call that forced a face-off in its defensive zone with a tired group of Red Wings on the ice. The ‘Hawks took full advantage as another spurt of pressure led to a shot by Kris Versteeg that Toews was able to tip past Osgood to know the score at two with 7:40 remaining.
The Red Wings had a golden opportunity to go back in front when Bolland was called for tripping at 13:53. Khabibulin saved his best for that Detroit power play as he stood on his head, making save after save after save to keep his team even. Osgood was just as solid, thwarting several Chicago chances to send the game to overtime.
Detroit had the territorial advantage in the first two minutes of the extra period but were able to get only one shot on Khabibulin. Chicago had its chances too but the puck just didn’t bounce the ‘Hawks way, leading to Samuelsson’s heroics.
Game notes…Samuelsson’s goal was his second game-winning goal of the series. He scored what proved to be the deciding goal in Game 1 on Sunday…Detroit has now allowed at least one power play goal in 11 consecutive games…Chicago’s 19 first period shots were the most the Blackhawks have had in any period in this year’s playoffs. It was also the most the Red Wings have allowed in any period this year. Chicago‘s 38 shots for the game were also the most the ‘Wings have given up this playoff season…Coming into the game, Detroit ‘s magic number is four. In the last 47 playoff games that the Red Wings had scored four or more goals in, they won every one. The last loss? April 24, 1998 to the Phoenix Coyotes in a first round game. The man between the pipes for the Coyotes that night was Nikolai Khabibulin…Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville is looking to break a negative streak of his own against Detroit. In each of the Red Wings’ last four Stanley Cup championship runs, they beat a team with Quenneville behind the bench (1997, 1998 and 2002 with St. Louis and 2008 with Colorado)…In the 12 completed playoff series so far this year, the team that won Game 1 has won seven of the series…From the “anything you can do, I can do better” department: In a direct answer to the city of Detroit decorating the “Spirit of Detroit” statue with a large Red Wings jersey when the team advances to the finals, the city of Chicago has put a large Toews jersey on the 3-story cast-iron model of a Brachiosaurus outside the Field Natural History Museum.
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