NHL playoffs
Red wings beat Sharks, 4-1 DETROIT (AP) – Dominik Hasek slowly skated out of his goal, bent down and inspected the octopus late in Detroit’s 4-1 win over San Jose on Saturday.
Red Wings fans have been tossing the eight-legged sea creatures on the ice for decades as a symbol of their team’s quest for the Stanley Cup.
If Detroit keeps playing the way it did on Saturday, another title might not be out of the question.
Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg each had goal and two assists, leading the Red Wings within a victory of reaching the Western Conference finals.
Ahead 3-2, Detroit can end the conference semifinal Monday night in San Jose.
Hasek was perfect after allowing a shaky early goal, turning aside 23 shots and proving again how valuable he is to the Red Wings. Instead of retiring last summer when Ottawa didn’t want him back, the two-time MVP and six-time Vezina Trophy winner returned to play for Detroit after helping it win the Stanley Cup in 2002.
“He just is mentally tough and knows how to play,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “That’s why we’re always in the game, because he’s going to shut the door.”
Hasek and the Red Wings pulled off their strong effort on Saturday despite playing short-handed on defense much of the game.
Defenseman Mathieu Schneider broke his wrist during the first period, knocking him out of the game and the remainder of the playoffs. Schneider, who scored the overtime goal in San Jose on Wednesday night that evened the series at 2, was hurt when checked by Sharks captain Patrick Marleau.
“Everybody stepped up. We played five defensemen,” Hasek said. “We knew about it. So we were very focused on quick changes and (being) very smart with the puck.”
The Red Wings already were ailing on defense, with Brett Lebda out with an ankle injury. Rookie Kyle Quincey took Lebda’s spot in the lineup.
Babcock said he wasn’t overly concerned about Detroit’s depleted defensive corps.
“You can’t worry about that (injuries),” he said. “The guys we’ve got are going to play well.”
And they did Saturday, outhitting and outshooting the Sharks.
But they also had some luck.
Datsyuk turned San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov’s misplay into the winning goal late in the second period, and Nabokov didn’t seem the same after that, surrendering a pair of third-period power-play goals.
With the Sharks circling in the Red Wings’ zone, Detroit cleared the puck into San Jose territory. Nabokov left the goal to play the puck, but sent it straight into a charging Datsyuk. He scooped it up and fired it into an open net with 3:47 to play in the second.
“I tried to go straight. When he was ready to shoot the puck, I just jumped,” Datsyuk said. “He hit my stick. It was unlucky for Nabby.”
Detroit, the top seed in the West, twice has come back from two-goal deficits to win games in the series, but needed only to erase a one-goal San Jose lead Saturday.
Unfortunately for the Sharks, blowing leads is becoming something of a habit. A year ago, they lost a 2-0 series lead over Edmonton in the conference semifinals.
“Somehow we have to … put these games behind us and move forward,” said defenseman Kyle McLaren, who assisted on San Jose’s lone goal. “We’re going to go home and be in front of our crowd. They’re going to be jacked up, and we’re going to be jacked up. We’re going to bring it all in Game 6.”
Mikael Samuelsson added an insurance goal nearly 4 minutes into the final period, slapping a one-timer past Nabokov. Zetterberg and Datsyuk set up Samuelsson’s first goal of the playoffs.
Tomas Holmstrom concluded the scoring, converting Zetterberg’s centering pass with 13:46 left in the third. Datsyuk also picked up an assist on the play.
Senators 3, Devils 2
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – First Sid the Kid and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils. All in 10 games.
The Ottawa Senators are finally delivering in the playoffs after a decade of disappointing failures.
Jason Spezza scored the go-ahead goal and set up another by Daniel Alfredsson in a three-goal second period on as Ottawa beat the Devils to win their Eastern Conference semifinal in five games.
Goaltender Ray Emery, who showed no effects from a minor automobile accident in Ottawa on Friday, made 27 saves to cap a series in which he clearly outplayed Brodeur, who set an NHL record with 48 wins this season.
Scott Gomez scored twice for New Jersey in what may have been the final Devils’ game at the Continental Airlines Arena. The three-time Stanley Cup champions are moving to a new arena in Newark next season, but they will leave the Meadowlands having not gotten past the second round in the last three postseasons.
The Senators will face either the Buffalo Sabres or New York Rangers in the conference final with the winner earning a trip to the Stanley Cup finals. While Ottawa has been to the playoffs the last 10 years, it has never made it to the finals. The only time they made the conference finals, the Devils beat them in seven games en route to winning the Cup.