Red Wings One Win From Sweep
Team defense and goaltending was supposed to be the Red Wings' Achillies' heel heading into the playoffs, their soft spot.
But those concerns are quickly being put to rest. Detroit leads Phoenix 3-0 in their first-round playoff series, thanks mainly to strong team defense and solid goaltending from Jimmy Howard. The Wings can wrap up a sweep Wednesday in Game 4 at Jobing.com Arena.
The Wings ranked last among all playoff teams and 23rd in the NHL in goals against this season. But they have not allowed an even-strength goal in the past two games and have only given up two in the series.
They are blocking shots and doing a good job of moving the puck quickly out of their zone. Their forwards are back-checking hard and they're forechecking aggressively, often times keeping the Coyotes bottled up in their own zone.
And, perhaps most importantly, Howard is outplaying his more heralded counterpart, Ilya Bryzgalov. He is making big saves at key moments, giving his teammates confidence.
RED WINGS 4, COYOTES 2: The Wings responded to Phoenix's physical play with a quick-strike offense. They scored two goals within the first three minutes of the game, from Ruslan Salei and Drew Miller, and also scored early in the second period (Valtteri Filppula) and the third (Johan Franzen) to further deflate the Coyotes. Detroit got a balanced scoring attack and a strong defensive effort. And goaltender Jimmy Howard made 28 saves in his best game of the series.
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