Red Wings Defeat ‘Hawks in Game 4 of Western Finals

Photo: NHL.com

In the absence of 3 star Red Wings, Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Kris Draper Detroit put on a clinic for the Chicago Blackhawks. Against the less experienced Chicago goaltender Cristobal Huet, Marian Hossa started the afternoon with a goal at the 8:41 mark of the 1st period. Unassisted, 21 seconds before the end of the same period Johan Franzen put the Wings up 2-0.

Early in the 2nd period Valtteri Filppula registered his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by Hossa and Rafalski. Chicago down 3-0 looked toward their captain Jonathan Toews to stop the composed momentum of Detroit. During one of few Chicago Power Plays Toews answered to put Chicago on the board. The excitement and energy of the fans at United Center was quickly terminated as Hossa answered with his 2nd goal of the night just 12 seconds later.

The Wings, up 4-1 didn’t look back. Henrik Zetterberg scored 2 goals to make the final 6-1 and allow Detroit to head back to Hockeytown with a 3-1 lead in the series.

Game 5 Wednesday is at 7:30 p.m. [ET]