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6:30 P.M.: Phoenix Looks To Take Commanding Series Lead Over Wings On Tuesday Night
Detroit (Sports Network) - The Phoenix Coyotes continue to prove the critics wrong and will try to take a commanding three games to one lead in the Western Conference quarterfinals tonight, when they visit the Detroit Red Wings for Game 4 at Joe Louis Arena.
The fourth-seeded Coyotes made a surprising run to the playoffs this year, but were still counted as underdogs against fifth-seeded Detroit, which has won the last two conference titles and also claimed a Stanley Cup title in 2008.
After splitting the first two games of the best-of-seven series in Phoenix, the Coyotes grabbed a 2-1 series edge with a 4-2 victory Sunday afternoon in Detroit.
That has the club, which is in the postseason for the first time since 2002, just two wins away from claiming its first playoff series victory since 1987, when the franchise was still located in Winnipeg. The Jets beat Calgary in the opening round that year before getting swept in the second round by Edmonton.
Meanwhile, Detroit, which has won four of the last 12 Stanley Cup titles, is trying to avoid its first opening-round exit since 2006, when it was bounced out in six games by Edmonton.
The Red Wings had an excellent 25-10-6 record on home ice this season, while the Coyotes, who will host Game 5 on Friday, were 21-15-5 as the guest this year.
Phoenix won Sunday's road game despite losing captain and regular-season leading scorer, Shane Doan, to injury. Doan suffered an upper-body injury early in the second period on Sunday and never returned. He is expected to miss tonight's game.
Coyotes forward Vernon Fiddler, who sat out Game 3 with an upper-body injury, is questionable for tonight.
Radim Vrbata and Petr Prucha each posted a goal and one assist to lead the Coyotes to the win Sunday at the Joe.
Sami Lepisto and Wojtek Wolski also lit the lamp for the Coyotes, who rebounded nicely after dropping a 7-4 decision at home on Friday. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 29-of-31 shots for the win.
“All the little parts of our game which led to our success all year, I thought we did very well,” said Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett.
Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen scored for the Red Wings, who couldn't take advantage of home ice and failed to net a goal in the late stages of regulation despite back-to-back Coyotes penalties.
“If I remember correctly, they finished the season with more points than we did,” noted Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock of Phoenix. “They always play hard. I thought they did a good job of slowing us down in the neutral zone in the second and third periods.”
Jimmy Howard allowed all four goals on 33 shots in the loss, but Babcock said he is sticking with the rookie goaltender rather than making the switch to veteran backup Chris Osgood.
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.
The Coyotes and Red Wings split four regular-season meetings this year.
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