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The Detroit Red Wings can clinch their 23rd straight trip to the playoffs when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins for Wednesdays battle at Consol Energy Center. Kyle Beckerman USA Jersey . Catch the game as part of a doubleheader on TSN2 starting at 8pm et/5pm pt. The Red Wings, who last missed the playoffs in 1990, need to gain just one point from Wednesdays game to qualify for the postseason yet again. With 90 points, Detroit is five ahead of ninth-seeded Washington and six clear of New Jersey. All three teams have three games left in the regular season, and both the Capitals and Devils are idle on Wednesday. The Red Wings also are a point ahead of Columbus for the first of the Eastern Conferences two wild card playoff spots. The Blue Jackets play Wednesday in Dallas. The Red Wings have won five of their last six games to solidify their postseason chances. After dropping the opener of a three-game road trip Saturday in Montreal, Detroit bounced back with Tuesdays 4-2 victory in Buffalo. Darren Helm, David Legwand and Pavel Datsyuk scored third-period goals for the Red Wings in the win over the Sabres. Brendan Smith also tallied for Detroit, while Jimmy Howard backed up his offense with 25 saves. Detroit head coach Mike Babcock won his 414th game with the franchise, vaulting him over Jack Adams for tops on the all-time list. "The win tonight is way more important than that," Babcock said. Detroit improved to 20-15-4 as the visiting team this season after Tuesdays win. The club will host Carolina in its final home game of the regular season on Friday before completing its schedule Sunday in St. Louis. Pittsburgh is wrapping up the regular season on a three-game homestand that begins tonight. The club already has sealed up the Metropolitan Division title and is locked into the second seed in the East. All that is left for the Penguins is to await the outcome of the other playoff races, which will determine who Pittsburgh hosts in the opening round of the postseason. The Penguins have won four of their last six games and are coming off Sundays 3-2 shootout win in Colorado. Pittsburgh outlasted the Avalanche despite playing without captain Sidney Crosby, fellow forward Chris Kunitz and defensemen Olli Maatta and Brooks Orpik due to various injuries. Pittsburgh could get some of those players back tonight, and the club also will see defenseman Kris Letang make his return to the lineup after suffering a stroke in January. Letang has missed 26 games since last playing on Jan. 27 against Buffalo. The 26-year-old blueliner had been cleared by doctors to resume all physical activities in late March and Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said it was up to Letang when he wanted to come back. "Kris was cleared by doctors and it was his choice on when to return," Shero said. "Hes been bugging me for a while to play" Letang had battled injuries this season before suffering the stroke in January, but still has managed to post 10 goals and eight assists in just 34 games this season. He went on blood thinners following the stroke, but was taken off them when he returned to practice last month. Meanwhile, Crosby, Kunitz, Maatta and Orpik all practiced on Tuesday and are questionable for Wednesdays game. Even if all four of those players return tonight, Pittsburgh will still be without several injured players, including forward Evgeni Malkin. Brandon Sutter supplied both regulation goals for the Penguins in Sundays win, giving him 13 tallies on the season. Jussi Jokinen netted the lone shootout goal in the second round, as the Penguins picked up the win at Pepsi Center. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 39 saves to earn the victory. The Pens and Red Wings have split a pair of meetings in 2013-14, but Wednesdays matchup marks the first encounter this season in Pittsburgh. Detroit has fared well recently in the Steel City, going 3-1-1 in the last five encounters at Consol Energy Center. Pittsburgh is 27-9-2 as the host this season. San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks have a chance to wrap up their second straight Pacific Division title and set a new franchise record on Wednesday night when they host the rival San Jose Sharks. Catch the game as the back end of a doubleheader on TSN2 starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. The Ducks own a three-point lead over the Sharks for first place in the division with three games left to play for both clubs. Anaheim, though, can clinch the Pacific crown with a victory tonight as they own the current tiebreaker with 10 more non-shootout victories. San Jose missed a chance to grab first place in the standings as it lost 3-0 to the Nashville Predators on Saturday. The setback didnt appear costly the following day as Anaheim lost a 4-2 decision in Edmonton, but the Ducks capitalized on their other game in hand by defeating the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 on Monday. "On paper, it sounds really good," said Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau on Monday of clinching. "But the fact we play San Jose the next game, L.A. the next game after that, and Colorado, its not going to be an easy thing. Weve got to play a lot like we played tonight if we want to have success on Wednesday and beyond." With starter Jonas Hiller having allowed 11 goals over a personal 0-2-1 skid and backup goaltender Frederik Andersen out with an upper-body injury, John Gibson made his NHL debut in net and posted an 18-save shutout. At 20 years and 297 days old, Gibson became the youngest goaltender since Buffalos Darren Puppa in 1985 to record a shutout in his NHL debut, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Gibson also became the first NHL goaltender of any age to notch a shutout in his debut since Al Montoya for Phoenix on April 1, 2009. "The team played really well in front of me and made my job easier," said Gibson, a highly-touted prospect who was taken in the second round of the 2011 draft. "I only had to make regular saves and if there was any rebounds they cleared it out." Daniel Winnik, Kyle Palmieri and Matt Beleskey all scored for the Ducks, who stopped a two-game losing streak and reached 110 points on the season to match the previous club single-season record set in 2006-07. Anaheim also is one point behind the St. Louis Blues for the top seed in the Western Conference with three games to play. The Sharks have been idle since suffering their fourth shutout loss of the season. Antti Niemi was beaten three times on 24 shots, with all three goals yielded in a span of less than 10 minutes of the second period. San Jose had won the first two of a three-game homestand and host Colorado on Friday before ending the regular season the following day at Phoenix. "Its the time of year where you cant have baggage," said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. "You cant carry things forward." Still, the Sharks face an uphill battle to pass the Ducks, leaving them a likely first-round matchup with the third-place Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks have won three of four versus the Ducks this season, but all three victories came at home and they lost a 6-3 decision in their lone previous trip to Anaheim on Dec. 31. The Ducks have won eight of the last 11 meetings at home overall. Gonzalo Higuain Argentina Jersey . On this weeks blog, I look at three big questions surrounding our MLS clubs. 1. Who is next in Vancouver? When the Whitecaps took the decision not to renew the contract of head coach Martin Rennie after two years with the club, it seemed as though Frank Yallop would be the man to take over the job. Lionel Messi Argentina Jersey . They wanted to avoid a Canucks power play clicking at better than 28 per cent, scoring on 17 man-advantage chances in 18 playoff games. Instead, Bostons big forwards would crash and bang on the forecheck when the teams were at even strength and create scoring chances.The first playoff meeting between the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings since 1957 was short on scoring, but it certainly didnt lack for drama or controversy. After surprising the top-seeded Bruins with a 1-0 win in Game 1, the Red Wings hope to grab an early 2-0 lead when the Original Six rivals continue the Eastern Conference quarterfinals Sunday afternoon in Boston. Watch the game live on TSN starting at 3pm et/Noon pt. Pavel Datsyuks pretty goal with 3:01 to play was the first and only marker of the game. The Russian superstars great individual effort stood up for the win thanks in part to the play of Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard, who outdueled Bostons Tuukka Rask with a 25-save shutout victory. Rask stopped 23-of-24 shots to take the loss. Detroit entered this best-of-seven series as the second of two wild cards in the East and figured to face a tall task in playing the Presidents Trophy- winning Bruins on the road in Games 1 and 2. However, with a win in the opener, the Red Wings, who are making a 23rd straight appearance in the postseason, managed to snatch home-ice advantage away from the defending Eastern Conference champions. "Obviously you want to get in and you want to establish yourself in the series especially when youre the lower seed," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock. "Sometimes when the upper seed gets the upper hand right away you start questioning whether youre good enough. We know were good enough but its one thing to know youre good enough and another thing to show youre good enough." After both teams went scoreless through two periods, Datsyuk finally recorded a goal late in the third period. Shortly after Howard kept Boston off the board with a tough stop on a Milan Lucic tip down low, the Red Wings took the puck the other way and let Datsyuk do what he does best. Johan Franzen picked up the puck in his own zone and was able to push it towards Datsyuk, who reached behind to pull the puck forward and skate into the zone down the right side. Skating towards the middle and approaching the left circle, Datsyuk used a screen to send a low wrister that went under the glove of Rask and into the right side of the net for his 37th career playoff goal. "It was a great play and Ive seen a lot of those over the years," said Bruins forward Jarome Iginla of Datsyuks goal. "Many guys have seen the highlights but Ive seen them up close. He doesnt need that many opportunities and he made a great play there.&qquot; Of course, dropping Game 1 on home ice is never a good thing, but Boston, which has made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in two of the past three seasons, is no stranger to facing adversity in the first round. Omar Gonzalez USA Jersey. Boston has gone the distance in the opening round in each of the past three seasons. In fact, the Bruins blew a 3-1 series lead against Toronto last spring in the conference quarterfinals and needed to overcome a 4-1 third- period deficit in Game 7 just to get past the Maple Leafs. The Bruins also beat Montreal four games to three in 2011 en route to its first Stanley Cup title since 1972, but lost in seven the following season against Washington. "There werent any secrets in tonights game. Both teams played tight...dont think there was any surprise out there today," said Boston head coach Claude Julien. "Everybodys got to find a way to create more, and thats going to be the challenge in this series." While Datsyuk provided the late-game dramatics for Detroit, Lucic was the center of controversy for the Bruins. Late in the second period, Lucic speared Danny DeKeyser in the groin, whacking the Red Wings defenseman from behind with his stick. No penalty was called on the play but Lucic was fined $5,000 by the league on Saturday. Although Detroit had the NHLs fourth-fewest penalty minutes (725) during the 2013-14 regular season, all eyes will be on Lucic in Game 2 to see if the Red Wings try to retaliate for the dirty play. Lucic also was caught by cameras pulling a similar stunt against Montreals Alexei Emelin back in March, but Bostons power forward says its not going to become a habit. "Obviously, it was kind of the heat-of-the-moment thing when youre not thinking when you do something like that," Lucic told reporters after practice on Saturday. "Ive been in the league for seven years now and I think Ive only done that three times. I dont know why I did it, but it was the heat-of- the-moment things that unfortunately I did. I believe in playing within the rules and, for me, I definitely wont be heading down that road again." This series is the first playoff meeting between the Bruins and Red Wings since the 1957 Stanley Cup semifinals. The clubs, of course, spent decades playing in opposite conferences before Detroit moved to the East as part of the NHLs realignment plan for the 2013-14 season. Game 3 of this series is scheduled for Tuesday in Detroit. The Red Wings also will host Game 4 on Thursday. ' ' ' |
