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Zetterberg, Red Wings eye commanding series lead

Apr 12, 2008 - 1:06 PM Nashville at Detroit 2:00 pm EDT Western Conference quarterfinal Red Wings lead, 1-0

DETROIT (Ticker) - Henrik Zetterberg and the Detroit Red Wings try to take a commanding two-games-to-none lead in the Western Conference quarterfinals when they host the Nashville Predators for Game Two on Saturday.

Zetterberg, who led Detroit with 43 goals during the regular season, snapped a tie at 6:54 of the third period and added an empty-netter to give the top-seeded Red Wings a 3-1 victory over the eighth-seeded Predators in the opener on Thursday.

The 27-year-old left wing now has 17 goals and 10 assists in 41 career playoff games, but refused to dwell on the effort.

"We just have to put (the victory) behind us now," Zetterberg said. "We've got another game Saturday. But it was nice to get a good start. I think we played a solid game for 60 minutes."

Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom recorded an assist on Zetterberg's first goal, tying him with Hall of Famer Phil Esposito for 32nd on the all-time postseason scoring list with 137 points.

It was the team defense, however, that most pleased Lidstrom.

"I thought we played real well defensively," he said. "At times they had some pressure in our end. But we tried to keep them on the outside and we were able to do that, too. And I thought we got the puck out a lot quicker out of our own end, too, in the third period than maybe in the first period. That really helped us."

Jordin Tootoo scored the Predators lone goal and Dan Ellis turned aside 37 shots in his first career playoff game for Nashville, which has yet to win a playoff road contest.

Despite making just his first postseason start, Ellis said he wasn't nervous at all - a trait that should serve him well when the Central Division rivals face off on Saturday.

"I felt pretty good," Ellis said. "I didn't have any of those playoff jitters you expect to have. I felt calm, cool and collected from the get-go. I think just because we played them so many times."