Johnny Oduya and Marcus Kruger scored in the third period, Corey Crawford made 20 saves and the Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 in the opener of their second-round playoff series Wednesday night.The Blackhawks dominated the final two periods in its first game in the Western Conference semifinals since it won the Stanley Cup in 2010. Marian Hossa scored the opening goal, and Patrick Sharp had an empty-netter and two assists to give him nine points in the playoffs.
“I thought it was our best game of the playoffs, no question,” Sharp said.
Jimmy Howard finished with 38 stops in a terrific performance, but Detroit still lost to rival Hawks for the eighth straight time dating to last season.The series resumes on Saturday afternoon at the United Center.The 75th all-time playoff game between the Blackhawks and Red Wings was tied at 1 after two periods, and Howard made a great stop on a breakaway by Dave Bolland 4 1/2 minutes into the third.The Hawks kept working and went in front to stay on a heady play by Oduya. He drifted in from the point and sent Sharp’s pass past Howard on the glove side with 12 minutes left.
“He sneaks in there, and it was a great play by Johnny,” Sharp said. “I saw him pinching in, I felt like he was wide open, and he called for the puck.”
Kruger then jumped on a loose puck and sent a backhander into the upper right corner to make it 3-1. That was more than enough for Crawford, who caught a break when Damien Brunner’s rebound attempt went off the crossbar and straight down before Brent Seabrook swept it away with about three minutes left.
“Sometimes you got to get some breaks,” Crawford said. “Seabs came in there and he made a great play to clear it out.”
The opener of the 16th playoff series between the Original Six teams was the first game for the Blackhawks since the eliminated Minnesota last Thursday. Detroit closed out Anaheim with a 3-2 win in Game 7 on Sunday night, taking the final two games of the series against the second-seeded Ducks.Despite the long break, there was no sign of rust for the Blackhawks. And the Red Wings skated right with Hawks despite all that travel in the first round and the thrilling conclusion to the series against Anaheim.This one was fast and frenetic from the start. Two similar teams more than familiar with the other’s style, energized by their first playoff meeting since Detroit beat the Hawks in five games in the 2009 Western Conference final.The Blackhawks struck first, taking advantage of the first power-play opportunity of the game. With Gustav Nyquist in the box for hooking, Sharp forced a turnover along the boards and Jonathan Toews sent the puck to Hossa, who one-timed it past Howard at 9:03.Detroit needed less than two minutes to respond, tying it when Brunner poked in a rebound for his third career playoff goal. The rookie center also contributed three assists in the first round against the Ducks.The Blackhawks killed off two power plays created by penalties on Andrew Shaw. They killed off another one when Nick Leddy was sent off for delay of game in the second period, making them a perfect 20 for 20 on the penalty kill in the postseason and sinking Detroit to 1 for 18 on power plays against the Blackhawks, including the regular season.After Leddy’s penalty, the Blackhawks controlled most of the action for a while. They had a 17-5 advantage in shots in the period. They just couldn’t solve Howard, who made a great glove stop on a wide-open Hossa with 6:39 remaining. Detroit also killed off two Hawk power plays to keep it tied headed to the third.
NOTES—It was the 800th game between the teams….Detroit F Justin Abdelkader was shaken up after he collided with Michal Rozsival in the first period. He was helped to the bench after a few moments down on the ice, but eventually returned to the game…..Viktor Stalberg was a healthy scratch. Coach Joel Quenneville said it was a “coach’s decision” and Stalberg could get back on the ice at any point. He said he talked to Stalberg about the decision to bench him for the opener…..Toews and Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings joined Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins as finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward. Datsyuk, a three-time winner, tied with Toews for the league lead in takeaways with 56…..Tha Hawks have won eight of the previous 15 playoff series against Detroit.