Coyotes 3 - 4 Red Wings
Final
  for this game

Red Wings edge Coyotes for 2-0 series lead

Apr 16, 2011 - 10:02 PM Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Pavel Datsyuk started a three-goal first period and collected three assists, as the Detroit Red Wings held on to beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3, in Game 2 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series at Joe Louis Arena.

Tomas Holmstrom sauntered through the low slot and redirected Valtteri Filppula's shot over Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to give Detroit a seemingly comfortable 4-0 lead 71 seconds into the second period.

But the Coyotes responded with three straight power-play goals -- the latter two by captain Shane Doan in a 2:48 span during the third period -- to pull within a goal.

After Radim Vrbata put Phoenix on the board in the middle stanza, Doan staked a claim in front of the crease and backhanded the rebound of a Keith Yandle shot behind Detroit's Jimmy Howard at 5:49.

Doan then drove Yandle's return feed past Howard from between the circles with a few seconds left on a 5-on-3.

Phoenix pulled Bryzgalov late in the frame, but couldn't produce an equalizer.

"We took too many penalties, which is interesting in itself, but I thought Pavel was real strong," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock.

Brian Rafalski and Darren Helm also scored for the third-seeded Red Wings, who will look to take a commanding 3-0 series lead Monday in the desert.

Howard stopped 30 of the 33 shots the sixth-seeded Coyotes fired his way, while Bryzgalov was beaten four times on 31 shots.

"We just got to play like we did in the third period and we'll be okay," Yandle said.

Detroit jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind power-play goals from Datsyuk and Rafalski.

Datsyuk crept in from the left point and beat Bryzgalov with a wrister at 10:42. The Phoenix netminder was looking around the traffic in front of him as the puck slid along the ice.

Following a similar formula, Rafalski let go a shot from the point that went between the legs of a screened Bryzgalov with 4:10 remaining.

Helm then put the Red Wings up 3-0 with 59 seconds left in the first period. Datsyuk chipped the puck past Yandle in the neutral zone and made a dazzling move with a shot between his legs. Bryzgalov repelled the shot with his right pad, but a trailing Helm slammed home the juicy rebound.

Game Notes

Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg (lower-body injury) and Phoenix defenseman Derek Morris (upper-body injury) were both held out of the lineup on Saturday...Red Wings forward Kris Draper appeared in his 216th career playoff game, passing Larry Murphy for sole possession of 12th place on the all-time list...Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom picked up two assists to move into 13th place all-time with 177 playoff points...The Red Wings have won 55 consecutive postseason games when scoring four or more goals...Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski suffered an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return.






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