Mike Babcock said the Red Wings sat back and watched Game 1, doing about as much skating as I did in the 4-1 loss. In Game 2, they skated and they dominated the No. 1 Chicago Blackhawks, flipping (Filppula'ing?) the script and evening the series for Game 3 on Monday in Hockeytown.
The Blackhawks lit the lamp first in the first period after a Wings defensive breakdown, allowing Patrick Kane to score his first playoff goal since he started growing his beard back in the 2011 playoffs. The Wings had three great scoring chances in the period and outshot the Blackhawks 12-8, but couldn't cash in.
It didn't take long for the Wings to even things up in the second period, though, as Damien Brunner deflected a Jakub Kindl shot past Corey Crawford a little over two minutes in. They celebrated. 14 minutes later, Henrik Zetterberg made an amazing play to fend off a diving Blackhawk and showed even better patience with the puck as defenseman Brendan Smith crashed the net for an easy one-timer goal from the stick of Captain Z. They celebrated again.
In the third, Johan Franzen wristed one by Crawford to make it 3-1 and Valtteri Filppula went flying and, during his ride, he put the game completely out of reach. We all celebrated.
Game highlights:
Filppula goal:
Game 3 in Hockeytown on Monday.
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