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Red Wings one win from Western Conference finals

May 7, 2007 - 4:32 PM Detroit at San Jose 9:00 pm EDT Western Conference semifinal Detroit leads, 3-2

SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings can return to the Western Conference finals for the first time in four seasons with a win against the San Jose Sharks on Monday.

After falling behind two-games-to-one in their best-of-seven conference semifinal matchup with the Sharks, the Red Wings have rallied to win back-to-back games and put themselves in position to close out the series in Game Six.

Detroit last reached the conference finals in 2002, the year the team hoisted its 10th Stanley Cup. The Red Wings have not lost a series in which they led three-games-to-two since 1991 when the St. Louis Blues won three straight games after trailing three-games-to-one.

The Red Wings will have to find a way to win without defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who left Game Five with a broken wrist following a hit by Sharks captain Patrick Marleau. He will miss the rest of the playoffs.

The blue-liner had 52 points during the regular season and was fourth on the team in scoring this postseason with two goals and four assists. Detroit also has been without defenseman Brett Lebda, who has missed six straight games due to an ankle injury.

The Sharks are having trouble holding leads in this series. In its first two losses, San Jose got out to a 2-0 lead before dropping both, 3-2.

In Game Five, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk each had a goal and two assists and Tomas Holmstrom netted a tally and set up another as the Red Wings overcame a 1-0 first-period deficit to post a 4-1 victory. In this series, the team that scored first has lost four of the five games thus far.

In addition to figuring out how to hold a lead once they get it, the Sharks need to make sure their power play is in sync. In the team's three losses, they are 0-for-17 on the power play. Conversely, the Sharks have scored a man-advantage goal in each of their two wins.

Detroit has outshot its opponents in all 11 games it has played this postseason.