Skip to content
Flyers
Link copied to clipboard

NHL | Datsyuk's late goal lifts Red Wings to 3-2 win

DETROIT - Pavel Datsyuk scored off a rebound with 1 minute, 24 seconds left to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 comeback victory over the San Jose Sharks yesterday, evening the Western Conference semifinal at a game apiece.

DETROIT - Pavel Datsyuk scored off a rebound with 1 minute, 24 seconds left to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 comeback victory over the San Jose Sharks yesterday, evening the Western Conference semifinal at a game apiece.

Joe Thornton had a goal and an assist in the first 4:17, and San Jose held onto the two-goal lead until Henrik Zetterberg scored late in the first period.

"Zetterberg and Datsyuk won us the game," said Daniel Cleary, who scored the tying, short-handed goal.

The Sharks then made a rare mistake early in the third period with a Detroit-like giveaway. Daniel Cleary made them pay for it with a short-handed goal that made 2-all.

"Zetterberg and Datsyuk won us the game," Cleary said.

San Jose had two power plays midway through the final period, but took only one shot on the first opportunity and three on the second.

Detroit's Dominik Hasek made 17 saves, and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 19 shots.

"We had opportunities throughout the game and Hasek made some great saves," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "But I think about the dumb mistakes we made in the third period that you can't make in a playoff game."

Game 3 is tomorrow night in San Jose and the Red Wings' victory means the series will come back to Detroit for at least Game 5.

"Suddenly, we're in a best-of-five series going back to their building," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "I think you're going see us really play, and be even tougher to play against."

Joe Louis Arena was quiet when the Sharks jumped ahead early again, but the fans got revved up as Detroit rallied. Detroit finished strong after a second straight awful start.

After turning the puck over 27 times in Game 1, the Red Wings had two giveaways right away and the second led to Jonathan Cheechoo's goal.

Hasek made a lackluster pass from behind the net toward the right circle, leading to Milan Michalek's assist for Thornton.

San Jose's Christian Ehrhoff and Bill Guerin combined for a giveaway that led to the tying goal.

Ehroff's weak pass in the Sharks' zone was wasn't handled by Guerin, and Cleary pounced on the puck and wound up for slap shot that found the back of the net 1:23 into the final period.

Devils 3, Senators 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Jamie Langenbrunner scored on a breakaway 1:55 into the second overtime to lift New Jersey over Ottawa Senators, giving the Devils a home split of the first two games in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Langenbrunner picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, fought off a hook from trailing defenseman Joe Corvo and shoved the puck past sprawled goalie Ray Emery.

New Jersey seemed set to win it in regulation, after first-period goals by Brian Gionta and Sergei Brylin, but Dany Heatley tied it for the Senators with 26.4 seconds left in the third.

Friday's late game

Canucks 2, Ducks 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Roberto Luongo made 43 saves and Jeff Cowan scored 7 minutes, 49 seconds into the second overtime to lift Vancouver over Anaheim.

The win evened their Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.

Cowan scored from a sharp angle with a shot that found a crack of daylight between Jean-Sebastien Giguere's right skate and the post after Anaheim's Rob Niedermayer lost the puck behind the net to Vancouver center Trevor Linden.

"Trevor's a clutch player, and he's proved it again and again in these situations," Cowan said. "It's exciting to be on the ice with him at that time of the game. He got the puck to me at the right time and I just got it away quick.

"For a second, I thought it was in, and then I was like, 'Aw, maybe it's not,' and then all of a sudden I got bear-hugged from behind. It was very exciting. It's my first [overtime goal in the playoffs], and I'll always remember it."