Red Wings tie up series with Oilers
Nicklas Lidstrom scored the winning goal during a two-man advantage in the third period and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 in a penalty-filled playoff game Thursday night in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Red Wings evened their best-of-7 series at two wins each with Game 5 Saturday in Detroit.
Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg also scored power-play goals for the Red Wings, while Robert Lang had a goal and two assists.
Fernando Pisani and Jaroslav Spacek scored power-play goals for Edmonton before a loud sellout crowd of 16,829 at Rexall Place.
Mathieu Schneider had three assists for the Red Wings, who snapped a two-game losing streak despite playing without captain Steve Yzerman, who was out with a back injury.
Lidstrom scored his first goal of the playoffs at 6:44 of the third period after Pisani took the Oilers second straight penalty by high-sticking Mikael Samuelsson in front of the Edmonton net.
Edmonton appeared to score the tying goal at 10:40 on a wraparound by Ryan Smyth, but a video review concluded Red Wings goalie Manny Legace got his sprawling glove on the puck in time.
Ottawa 5, Tampa Bay 2: At Tampa, Fla., rookie Ray Emery stopped 30 shots and Martin Havlat scored for the fourth straight game, leading the Eastern Conference’s top seed to a victory that pushed the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning to the brink of elimination.
Ottawa leads the best-of-7 series 3-1 and can close it out by winning Game 5 Saturday in Ottawa. Ottawa is 21-3 against Tampa Bay the last five years.
Mighty Ducks 3, Flames 2: At Anaheim, Calif., defenseman Sean O’Donnell scored 1:36 into overtime as Anaheim evened its series with Calgary. Game 5 will be played in Calgary on Saturday night.
O’Donnell scored his first goal of the postseason on a slap shot from the top of the left circle, with goalie Miikka Kiprusoff screened on the play. It was his fourth career playoff goal.
Sharks 5, Predators 4: At San Jose, Calif., captain Patrick Marleau posted his third career postseason hat trick as San Jose pushed Nashville to the brink of elimination the Game 4 win. Game 5 is Sunday in Nashville.
NHL scoring champion Joe Thornton had two assists for the Sharks.
Koivu out with eye injury
Montreal’s Saku Koivu will miss at least tonight’s playoff game because of an eye injury, and the Canadiens are preparing for the possibility that their captain could be out for longer.
Koivu will have to wait to learn what damage was done to his left eye after being hit with a stick in Game 3.