Late Night Thoughts on a Successful Game Six

The Wings are leaving Detroit and on a plane back to Anaheim as happy as can be. Why might you ask? Well, if you haven't heard the Detroit Red Wings were able to pull of an overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks to yet again tie the series at 3-3.

 Detroit was able to pull off the first goal with a little over a minute left in the first period at the Joe Louis Arena. Pavel Datsyuk backhanded the puck past Jonas Hiller and took the lead. Wings dominated the period with 11 shots on goal compared to Anaheim's 7, but did look a little sloppy.

The sloppiness carried into the second period, where Anaheim controlled the next twenty minutes. Anaheim had 14 shots on goal, but were not able to capitalize on one of those shots without Detroit's help. Yes, you read that correctly: Detroit had to help Anaheim make a goal. Brendan Smith ingeniously attempted to grab the puck from going past Howard and instead the puck bounced off of his body, allowing Anaheim to tie up the score at 1-1 before the second period was finished.

As this series as proved in the past, the third period was the most active. Henrik Zetterberg was able to capitalize on the power play six minutes into the third period and scored his first goal in the playoffs. Dan Cleary tipped the puck into the net next, giving Detroit a comfortable 3-1 lead. The comfort did not last long, though. Valtteri Filppula had a bad pass behind the net to Emmerson Etem, who scored the next goal for the Ducks. Less than a minute later, Bobby Ryan tied the scored up at 3-3. Detroit had a couple of chances before the end of the third, but were unable to capitalize and moved to overtime for the forth time in the
series.

A little over the minute into overtime, Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg scored the game winning goal. The Joe Louis Arena went nuts as the Wings had stayed alive in the playoffs winning 4-3 versing the Ducks.

Some obvious mistakes was the bad bounces/passes from Detroit players that assisted Anaheim in two of their three goals. As previously discussed, Detroit always seems to allow for more goals in the third period. It seems as if they just get tired and give up, allowing for poor turnovers or bad passes that result in Anaheim catching up. The shots on goal support that as well, showing Anaheim leading 16 to 9 in the third period. It would be nice to see Detroit pull through all 60 minutes of game play and prevent Anaheim from stealing their thunder in the third period. We need a hungrier, more consistent team for game seven in order to pull off a win.

A couple victories would obviously begin with Henrik Zetterberg finally capitalizing on his shots. Zetterberg's two goals were nothing short of exciting and helpful to winning this game. Also, Justin Abdelkader being back in the line up was helpful for the Wings. His presence was known with a couple of shots on net, an assist and a stronger top line. Howard also outplayed Hiller, having a 91 save percentage compared to Hiller's 86 save percentage. Despite being outshot, Detroit battled hard

and thankfully won. The Wings are on to game seven. If Detroit wins game seven, the Red Wings will advance to the next round in the playoffs. However if Detroit falls short, the Red Wings will be the ones packing their bags and heading home until October when next year's season will begin.

Game seven will be played at the Duck's home ice, the Honda Center, on Sunday, May 12th at 10PM. What do you think the Wings need to do to win game seven? Will Anaheim win, continuing the pattern of winning every other game this series, or do you think Detroit will be able to win back to back and take the series? Follow our Facebook and Twitter for more places to share your opinion and for great Wings coverage!