Red Wings continue to roll with 5-1 win over Colorado
For the 4th straight game and the 6th time in 8 games, the Detroit Red Wings picked up a win in the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After a hard-fought 4-3 win on Thursday night against host #6 Colorado, the Red Wings dominated the Avalanche in Game #2 by a final count of 5-1. Chris Osgood made 19 saves to pick up another win, but the true star of this game for Detroit was "Mule" - Johan Franzen - who netted a hat trick in 17 minutes of ice time on just 6 total shots.
Franzen got the scoring underway in the game with a 1st period power play goal thanks to assists from Mikael Samuelsson and Niklas Kronwall. In the 2nd period Franzen again scored on the power play to put the Wings up 2-0 thanks to assists by Jiri Hudler and Kronwall. Just under 2 minutes later at the 5:42 mark of the 2nd period, Valtteri Fippula made it 3-0 and Henrik Zetterberg added the Red Wings' 4th goal at the 10:11 mark of the 2nd period. The 3rd period saw Colorado cut the Detroit lead to 4-1 when Ian Laperriere scored at the 2:38 mark of the 3rd, but Franzen netted his 3rd goal of the game thanks to an assist from Zetterberg as the Wings cruised to a 5-1 win. In the end, Henrik Zetterberg not only scored a goal and had an assist, but he also took 10 shots in the game, keeping pressue on Colorado goalie Jose Theodore and his later replacement Peter Budaj.
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With the win the Wings now lead Colorado 2-0 in this best of seven series with Game #3 on Tuesday night @ 10 pm ET in Colorado. The Wings struggled on the road in the 1st round losing Games 3 and 4 @ Nashville, but rebounded to clinch the 1st round series with a 3-0 win at Nashville in Game #6. Detroit was an impressive 25-12-4 on the road in the regular season, but this is the postseason and the stakes are much higher now. Either way, a spilt in Games 3 & 4 @ Colorado would keep the the Red Wings in the driver's seat toward a berth in the Western Conference Finals.
By Michael Shull
ProHockey-fans.com Guest Writer
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