Playoffs - Wed, 15 May - Results

Detroit v Chicago 1-4 - Game 1 - For one period, the Chicago Blackhawks looked like a team that hadn't played in nearly a week. For the next two Wednesday night at United Center, they looked the club that blitzed teams en route to the top seed in the Western Conference and a place among the favorites to claim the Stanley Cup. Jimmy Howard withstood wave after wave of pressure from the Blackhawks, but eventually even a great performance from the Detroit Red Wings' goaltender wasn't enough. Johnny Oduya and Marcus Kruger scored a little more than three minutes apart midway through the third period and the Blackhawks defeated the Red Wings 4-1 in Game 1 of this Western Conference Semifinals series. Howard faced a flurry of shots after the Blackhawks looked a little rusty in the first period from the layoff after wrapping up their first-round series last Thursday. After just six shots on net in the first period, the Blackhawks peppered Howard with 27 in the next 28 minutes and eventually broke through. The Red Wings struggled at times with the pressure from the speedy Anaheim Ducks, but the Blackhawks were at another level in the final two periods. Sharp and Patrick Kane controlled the puck in the left corner, and Sharp found Oduya pinching in from the left point. A couple of exhausted Red Wings forwards were unable to stay with him, and Oduya had plenty of space to pick out the top right corner behind Howard at 8:02 of the third period. Kruger extended the lead at 11:23 of the period on a quirky play. The puck ended up on top of the goal netting behind Howard, and it was just out of his reach to try and cover it up. It ended up off the netting and out in front of the goal, and Kruger was able to backhand a shot past a lunging Howard for his second of the postseason.

Howard finished the night with 38 saves and was certainly Detroit's best player, but it wasn't enough for the Wings to steal Game 1 against the top-seeded Blackhawks. Corey Crawford made 20 saves, but defenseman Brent Seabrook had the save of the night, swatting the puck off his goal line late in the third to keep the lead at 3-1. Sharp added an empty-netter with 48.8 seconds left to end any doubt. Marian Hossa put the Blackhawks in front with a power-play goal at 9:03 of the first period. Sharp (three points) knocked the puck away from a pair of Red Wings along the left wall, and Jonathan Toews was able to get it to a wide-open Hossa for a one-timer and his fourth of the playoffs. The Red Wings' penalty killers got caught out of position by Sharp's play, three of them were along the wall and a fourth was near the closest faceoff dot. The rest of the ice was wide open and Toews had multiple options. The Red Wings didn't take long to respond. Damien Brunner tied the contest at 10:57 with his third goal of the postseason. Brunner collected a cross-ice pass from Gustav Nyquist in the neutral zone and sped toward the net down the left wing. Seabrook blocked his first attempt and Crawford thwarted the second, but Brunner stayed with it and chipped his third try over Crawford's outstretched arm as he went below the goal line. Chicago advanced to the second round by dispatching the Minnesota Wild in five games. The Blackhawks needed overtime in Game 1 and lost in OT in Game 3, but they won the final two contests by a combined 8-1 margin and did not allow a power-play goal in the series. Detroit rallied from a 3-2 series deficit to knock off the second-seeded Anaheim Ducks in seven games. The Red Wings won three times in overtime before controlling Game 7 from the start, and Zetterberg led the way with three goals and five points in the final two contests. There will be two days off before Game 2 back here on Saturday afternoon. The Red Wings went back to Detroit after the game, will take Thursday off and then try to regroup.