The Tigers were playing just down the road and this city’s favorite son Eminem was performing nearby, but it was the Detroit Red Wings with the best show in town Tuesday night.
The Wings put together another solid effort and were just a bit more than the Blackhawks could handle with a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals at Joe Louis Arena.
The victory gave Detroit a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series.
Mikael Samuelsson had the game-winning goal 5 minutes, 14 seconds into overtime. Brian Rafalski and new Hawks killer Dan Cleary also scored, while Chris Osgood was strong in net to lead the Wings.
The Hawks fell despite scoring the game’s first goal for the second consecutive contest and a solid goaltending effort from Nikolai Khabibulin.
Jonathan Toews’ goal 12:49 into the first gave the Hawks a 1-0 lead. With the Wings’ Brad Stuart in the penalty box for tripping Kris Versteeg, Toews struck when he fired a shot from the right side along the goal line that hit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson’s skate and caromed past Osgood and into the net.
Very much like Game 1, the Hawks’ lead was short-lived as Rafalski tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal of his own 3:54 later.
Cleary’s goal with 5:54 remaining in the second gave Detroit its first lead.
Toews’ second goal came with 7:40 remaining in the third and tied it 2-2. The Hawks captain redirected a shot from Versteeg near the left circle and past Osgood for his sixth goal of the postseason. It was also his third two-goal game during the Hawks’ playoff run.
“I thought we had a lot of great chances and got really close to closing it out,” Toews said. “They’re a great team. It was a huge feat for us to play the way we did in the third period and mount a comeback and push it into overtime. … Unfortunately we didn’t come up on the winning side.”
After falling in Game 1, the Hawks seemed better prepared for the high-level intensity of Game 2, perhaps learning what it takes to match the Wings during postseason play.
“The tempo is a bit faster, obviously,” Hawks defenseman Cam Barker said. “For us to be successful we need to be at that same tempo. They control the puck so well and really capitalize on chances. We need to be more cautious with the puck at times and use our speed.”
