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		Red Wings bounce back, earn split in desert By Daniel Dullum April 16, 2010

	GLENDALE, Ariz. – Midway through the second period of their NHL Western Conference playoff game against Phoenix Friday, the real Detroit Red Wings showed up. “Part of the second period, both teams were running a little bit too much,” Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg, who scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, said. “You have to stay focused and do the small things right and try to create a lot of stuff out of nothing, and have a lot of patience. If you do that, you’ll come back to your game and play the way you want.” Which is exactly what the Red Wings did, opening up the throttle in the second period and never letting up. As the tempo picked up, so did the scoring chances for Detroit. Zetterberg explained, “Players get out of position, that’s how you get a lot of odd-man rushes and a lot of goals got scored.” A combined total of five, to be exact, all within a four-minute span. The game was tied 3-3 after two periods, but the momentum was shifting to the visiting club, a fact not lost on Coyotes captain Shane Doan. “(Trading goals) is not our game and we knew that,” Doan said. “We have to play a simpler game. We played into their hands for the most part.” After being pushed around for the first four periods in this opening round best-of-seven, the Red Wings found their scoring groove and defeated the Coyotes 7-4, earning a 1-1 split in the Valley of the Sun. The series moves to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for games three and four. “We got the split, that’s what we wanted to do,” Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard said. “Now we’ve got the momentum going back to Detroit and we’ll use that to our advantage.” After trailing 1-0 early, the Red Wings outscored Phoenix 6-3 in the second and third periods while outshooting the Coyotes 38-31. “We needed lots of goals tonight to win, and we were fortunate to get them,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we played better as the game went on. Tonight was one of those nights where for the goalies; the pucks were going in the net. So it was evident quite early that we were going to need a few goals and were able to get it done. “Now it’s a best-of-five series and that’s what’s exciting about being in the playoffs.” Game two started out much the same way game one went, with the Coyotes sticking to their close checking style. Phoenix scored first at 10:23 of the first period when Keith Yandle lifted a loose puck in the slot past Howard, just inside the crossbar, for his second goal of the playoffs off Martin Hanzal’s initial shot. Zetterberg tied the game at 1-1 6:27 into the second period with a power play goal, beating Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov past his right shoulder. But it took Phoenix less than a minute to answer, as Wojtek Wolski’s unassisted tally put the Coyotes back up 2-1. One minute and 15 seconds later, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk cruised through the slot and snuck a backhander past Bryzgalov, tying the game at 2-2. At 9:09 of the second period, Matthew Lombardi took a headman pass from Shane Doan, got it under control and flipped it over Howard’s stick, putting the Coyotes back on top at 3-2. The white-clad sellout crowd of 17,386 didn’t realize it, but that would be Phoenix’s last lead of the night. “We know Phoenix is good in front of their goalie, taking a lot of ice away,” Zetterberg said. “It’s tough to get pucks on the net that way, so you just have to find a way to maybe do it from different angles and go for second shots. It was nice to see a few pucks bounce off (Bryzgalov), and the puck went in.” The seesaw offensive flurry ended when Detroit’s Valtteri Flippula tied the game at 4-4 when he caught up to a loose puck in the slot on a breakaway. Asked about the goaltender’s frame of mind during such a scoring outburst, Howard said, “You have to keep battling out there, and keep making saves. I just kept telling myself to make one more big save for the guys and keep battling Bryz down at the other end.” “When goals are going in like that, neither team is really getting any momentum out of it,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “But the game got revved up. We made some mistakes in the second period – a couple of terrible changes – we had some mental mistakes and physical mistakes. “You can do some things to slow the game down,” he continued. “But sometimes the pace of the game just goes like that. There were very few whistles, and in the end, we didn’t execute well enough when we should have been moving the puck out of our end. Whether Detroit was getting chances or not, they were gaining momentum going into our zone. We have to pass the puck better.” Fans were barely settled into their seats when Detroit surged ahead 4-3 at 2:08 of the third period, when Justin Abdelkader caught up to a loose puck in the slot and beat Bryzgalov low to the stick side. “I think we skated well,” Flippula said of the Red Wings’ scoring spurt. “We got some turnovers that way, and spent a little more time in their end than we did in the first. That helps.” Phoenix answered one last time at 9:24 when Doan took a two-on-one pass from Vernon Fidler and his low wrister beat Howard on the glove side. But the Red Wings surged ahead to stay at 5-4 when Zetterberg tipped in Todd Bertuzzi’s initial shot from the point at 13:54. Bryzgalov had committed to Bertuzzi’s shot and left a wide open net for Zetterberg. Flippula made it 6-4 with a power play goal at 17:54, and Zetterberg notched his third goal of the night with an empty-netter at 19:12. “You don’t always see this many goals scored in a playoff game,” Zetterberg said. “Sometimes this happens. I don’t think we’ll see the same thing back home.”