Red Wings beat Ducks in Game 7; Blackhawks up next

 

By Michael Caples –

It hasn’t been the best of seasons for the Detroit Red Wings. Yet whenever they find themselves in must-win situations, they find a way to win.

Goals from Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abelkader and Valtteri Filppula powered the Red Wings to a 3-2 win in the winner-take-all Game 7 of their series with the Anaheim Ducks Sunday night in California.

With the victory, the No. 7-seeded Red Wings compete the upset in their first-round series, and advance to take on Original Six rival Chicago in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Jimmy Howard stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced to help the Red Wings move on to the next round.

Emerson Etem and Francois Beauchemin scored for the Ducks, who entered the postseason as the No. 2 seed in all of the Western Conference.

The win also marked the first regulation win of the series for the Red Wings – their other three victories all came in overtime.

Zetterberg gave Detroit the early lead, when the Wings’ captain was able to send a rebound try past Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller just 1:49 into the contest. Filppula and Jakub Kindl picked up the assists on the play.

Etem evened the game at 1-1 by beating Howard shortside after waiting for a shooting lane to open up. The goal came just after a boarding minor to Dan Cleary had expired.

But Abdelkader quickly answered for the Red Wings. While shorthanded, the Muskegon native knocked down a pass between the two Ducks working the point on the Anaheim power play, and beat both of them to the loose puck in the neutral zone. Abdelkader beat Hiller five-hole for his second goal of the series, regaining the lead for the Wings in the process.

Filppula scored the lone goal of the second period, firing a backhander through a crowd and past Hiller for his first goal of the postseason. Cleary and Zetterberg picked up the assists on the goal.

The Ducks pulled within a goal late in the third period, however. With Zetterberg in the box for a delay-of-game penalty after clearing the puck out of play in his own end, Beauchemin flung the puck towards the Red Wings’ goal. The puck hit Jonathan Ericsson’s skate and deflected it into the Detroit net.

Detroit managed to hold onto the one-goal lead to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

Now, they will take on Central Division foe Chicago. On the Fox Sports Detroit postgame show, coach Mike Babcock said the series will start on Wednesday. Two first-round series – New York (Rangers) vs. Washington and Boston vs. Toronto – will be concluded tomorrow night.

Here’s what happened in the four regular season contests between the Red Wings and Blackhawks:

• Sunday, January 27 – Chicago 2, Detroit 1 (overtime) – United Center
• Sunday, March 3 – Chicago 2, Detroit 1 (shootout) – Joe Louis Arena
• Sunday, March 31 – Chicago 7, Detroit 1 – Joe Louis Arena
• Friday, April 12 – Chicago 3, Detroit 2 (shootout) – United Center

For a more comforting stat for Detroit fans – the Red Wings have now won eight of their last 11 games.