If they wanted to get back into the series, last night was the time they had to do it. Already down 2-0 to the defending champions, the Chicago Blackhawks had a massive hole to claim out of to beat Detroit. But they had one advantage in game three: home ice. Would it be enough to cut the Red Wings’ lead in half?

Detroit 3 @ Chicago 4 (OT) – They got the win but will they be happy with the effort? The Blackhawks squandered a three goal lead in just under four-and-a-half minutes but they had enough left in the tank to pull out an overtime win to close in on the Red Wings.

The scoring opened nine minutes in when Patrick Sharp tipped home a Brent Seabrook blast from the point on the power play. Only 1:05 later, Andrew Ladd shovelled home a rebound to double the lead. While the scoring was over for the first period, the action wasn’t. Niklas Kronwall ran over Martin Havlat with a huge hit. Havlat was knocked out on the play and left the game. Kronwall was given five minutes for interference and a game misconduct. With replay being 20/20, Havlat had the puck in his feet so it probably shouldn’t be an interference call but it left Detroit with only 5 defensemen. The Hawks would add one more goal 45 seconds into the second period when Sammy Pahlsson tipped home a Duncan Keith point shot to make it 3-0.

The game shifted back Detroit’s way with the aforementioned three quick goals. Nicklas Lidstrom blasted a point shot that deflected off a Chicago player and past Nikolai Khabibulin to end the shutout bid. Less than three minutes later, Brian Rafalski lit the lamp with a wrister to cut the lead to one. The period ended with Jonathan Ericsson shot from the boards that found its way through a crowd and into the back of the net. When the buzzer went at the end of the frame, the game was over for Khabibulin. Rumours after the game circulated that Khabibulin had a lower body injury that forced coach Joel Quenneville to play Cristobal Huet in the third.

With no scoring in the third period, we needed extra time to settle things for the second straight game. It didn’t take long to settle this one. A scramble in front of the Detroit goal was settled when Patrick Sharp put home the game winning goal.

Marian Hossa was the only Red Wings player with a multi-point night, notching a pair of helpers. David Bolland also had a pair of assists for the Blackhawks. Chris Osgood took the loss despite making 23 saves. Khabibulin made 21 stops on 24 shots over two periods of action. In relief, Huet stopped all six shots that he faced.

You have to give the Blackhawks some credit. They could have folded when Detroit erased their lead but held strong. Meanwhile, Detroit played their typically poised game. Despite losing one of their top defensemen on an arguably blown call and being down three goals in the second period, they never panicked and never gave up. Also, you have to figure it was easier for Chicago to split Havlat’s 10 minutes left of ice time among 11 forwards than for Detroit to split Kronwall’s 14 minutes among 5 defensemen. If all things are back to being equal in game four, the Blackhawks aren’t out of the woods yet.
Detroit leads the series 2-1

Three Stars of the Night:
1. Patrick Sharp (Chicago)
2. David Bolland (Chicago)
3. Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit)

Saturday’s Schedule:
Pittsburgh at Carolina – Pittsburgh leads the series 2-0 (TV: CBC, Versus)