Game 2 in Phoenix ended with a 7-4 Red Wings win. Do these teams even have goalies? We’ll find out in Game 3, which starts at 3:00 Eastern on NBC.
3:00 P.M.: After Game 2 Goal-A-Palooza, Coyotes, Red Wings Meet In Detroit
Before, during, and after the game, be sure to check in with our Coyotes blog, Five For Howling, and our Red Wings blog, Winging It In Motown.
Preview courtesy of Sports Network.
The Detroit Red Wings will try to take their first lead of the Western Conference quarterfinals when they host the Phoenix Coyotes today in Game 3 at Joe Louis Arena.
The fifth-seeded Red Wings, who have won the last two Western Conference titles, earned a split in the first two games of this best-of-seven set in Phoenix. The Coyotes notched a 3-2 victory in the opener, but Detroit pushed back with a 7-4 victory in Game 2 at Jobing.com Arena.
The deadlocked series now shifts to the Motor City for Games 3 and 4. The Red Wings, who were 25-10-6 at the Joe during the regular season, will also host the fourth-seeded Coyotes on Tuesday before meeting again in Phoenix on Thursday. The Coyotes were 21-15-5 as the visiting team this season.
Detroit earned a win in Friday's Game 2 meeting thanks to a standout performance by Henrik Zetterberg, who netted his first playoff hat trick and scored the game-winner with 6:06 to play, as the Red Wings evened this first- round series.
Valtteri Filppula had two goals and an assist, while Justin Abdelkader and Pavel Datsyuk each lit the lamp for the Red Wings, who won their 50th straight playoff game when scoring at least four goals.
“We got pucks in and we were able to play a little bit more physical,” Filppula said. “We got some turnovers and got some chances that way.”
Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots to pick up his first career playoff win.
Wojtek Wolski and Shane Doan each notched a goal and an assist, while Keith Yandle and Matthew Lombardi each had a goal for the Coyotes, who are in the postseason for the first time since 2002 and are hoping for their first playoff series victory since 1987 when the team was in Winnipeg.
Ilya Bryzgalov was tagged for six goals on 38 shots. Bryzgalov, a leading candidate for the Vezina Trophy, has faced 78 shots over the first two games of this series, stopping 70 of them.
“We made way too many mistakes today,” Bryzgalov said. “We tried to play Detroit’s (system), open hockey. They scored lots of goals. They had pretty good chances.”
Phoenix went 0-for-4 on the power-play after converting three of four opportunities with the man advantage in Game 1.
Coyotes center Vernon Fiddler left Friday's game with an upper-body injury and is questionable for today's test. Fiddler had an assist in Game 2 before suffering the injury late in the third period.
The Coyotes and Red Wings split four regular-season meetings this year, though both of Phoenix’s wins came in overtime.
Detroit and the Coyotes are meeting in the postseason for just the third time and first since Detroit eliminated Phoenix in six games in the 1998 conference quarterfinals. Detroit also finished off Winnipeg in six games of the opening round of the 1996 playoffs.
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