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Staying Alive: Red Wings roar back in third, beat Sharks 4-3 to force Game 6

Tomas Holmstrom

Detroit Red Wings left wing Tomas Holmstrom (96), of Sweden, jumps into the arms of teammates after scoring the go-ahead goal against the San Jose Sharks during the third period in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinal playoff series in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, May 8, 2011. Detroit won 4-3. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

AP

When the Sharks got out to a 3-0 series lead on the Red Wings, they hoped for a sweep. Hoping and doing it are two different things and the Wings went out and won Game 4 for pride’s sake. The Sharks hoped they’d recreate last year’s formula for making the Western Conference finals by beating Detroit in Game 5 at home and ending the series to prepare for either Nashville or Vancouver.

Turns out that plan didn’t work out well either as the Red Wings stormed back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to beat the Sharks 4-3 and force a Game 6 on Tuesday night in Detroit.

The game played out similarly to others in this series. San Jose dominated the first 40 minutes of the game getting stellar, pressure-filled play from everyone. The Sharks forced the Wings into mistakes and capitalized on any and all errors getting out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Devin Setoguchi in the first period and Joe Pavelski with a great tally in the second. Just a minute after Pavelski seemed to start putting the stake in the Wings’ heart, Niklas Kronwall would strike back.

With the Sharks up 2-1 going into the third, Logan Couture would make it 3-1 less than a minute into the final period. That goal was not the start the Wings were looking for when trying to get back into the game. After all, this goal was the example of the Wings being slow to react on defense and Couture taking advantage of that.

For San Jose, however, that would be the last bit of good news they’d get the rest of the period. Jimmy Howard stood tall all game long saving 39 shots and outdueled Antti Niemi (18 saves). The Wings turned up the pressure down by two goals and the Sharks seemed resigned to sit on the lead. Against Detroit, that’s a very bad move.

Less than three minutes after Couture’s goal, Jonathan Ericsson jumped into the play and stuffed home a rebound to make it 3-2. A minute and a half after that, Dan Cleary would battle at the side of the net and squeeze one through Niemi to tie the game at 3-3. With the Sharks officially on the ropes, the Wings controlled the pace of the game. With just over six minutes to play, Pavel Datsyuk (three assists) and Nicklas Lidstrom made their presence felt connecting with Tomas Holmstrom to put Detroit in the lead.

With Detroit in the lead for the first time, San Jose would pressure back but come up empty. For the Sharks, their effort at the end of the game was non-existent and while they played outstanding for two periods, one awful third period ruined the game for them. As we’ve seen in other games in this series, not playing a complete game will cost you. That kind of effort is alarming because it’s unlike what we’ve seen from the Sharks for most of the series and given their proclivity to psychological downers, you have to wonder what happens to the Sharks should they get down early against the Wings in Game 6 in Detroit.

For Detroit, despite all their errors and getting grossly outshot in the game it was their stars that stepped up for them along with their role players. Datsyuk playing with a sore wrist gets three assists. Niklas Kronwall who’s been outstanding throughout the playoffs comes up with a goal and an assist as well as a big hit on Ryane Clowe. Getting a goal from Ericsson on a night where he was playing abysmal on defense is a great way to make up for some poor play in his own end. Those kinds of plays make differences for the team. Expect Detroit to be even more invigorated heading home with a chance to tie the series and force a Game 7 where all bets are off.