They made it to the Stanley Cup final the past two seasons for a reason. The Detroit Red Wings know something about winning in the clutch; winning when it matters; and showing poise when the temptation is to push the panic button.
The Red Wings needed all of their considerable playoff wiles about them for Friday night's second game of the Western Conference quarter-final series against the Phoenix Coyotes.
Three times, the Red Wings fell behind by a goal and three times, they responded - leaving it up to Henrik Zetterberg to score the winner, his second of three goals on the night, to cap a wildly entertaining, see-saw affair that finished 7-4 in Detroit's favour.
The series, now squared a 1-1, shifts to the Joe Louis Arena for a Sunday matinee, and if last night's game is any indication, it could be a classic. So far, it's had a little of everything - exceptional offensive plays, untimely turnovers, plus a real physical edge that you wouldn't necessarily expect from these two teams, who were among the least penalized in the league this past season.
"It was a little different," said Zetterberg. "You don't usually see this many goals scored. Sometimes, it happens. I don't think we'll see this back home."
Too bad because - notwithstanding the fact that the Coyotes lost - if the goal is to sell hockey in Phoenix, last night's game was Exhibit A of what makes it a sport worth watching.
The Red Wings received a big-time performance from Todd Bertuzzi, who set up the winning goal by Zetterberg and was part of the physical push-back by the Red Wings, after Phoenix held an edge in that department in the opener.
Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock's one line-up change - inserting Justin Abdelkader for Jason Williams - was made primarily to bulk up the Red Wings' fourth line.
As luck would have it, Abdelkader also produced the go-ahead goal for the Red Wings early in the third period, stripping the puck from Wojtek Wolski just inside the Coyotes' blue line. With Wolski in hot pursuit, Abdelkader deked goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov with a neat move to give Detroit its first lead of the night.
That came 2:32 into the third period and for a time there, it appeared as if order had been restored. After all, these were the No. 3- and 6-rated defensive teams in the NHL this past season. The sort of run-and-gun shenanigans that characterized the second period - five goals scored in total in a span of three minutes, 58 seconds - was seriously out of keeping with either team's defensive philosophy, and especially that of the buttoned-down Coyotes.
"It was a good pace and when it's fast, it's lots of fun too," said Valtteri Filppula, who chipped in a pair of goals. "There was more speed in this game than in the first."
Zetterberg had an exceptional game - as did his linemates Bertuzzi and Filppula - a unit that accounted for five of the seven Red Wings' goals.
"In that second period, I thought we responded really well as a team," said Red Wings' captain Nicklas Lidstrom. "We just kept coming and finally got rewarded for getting the puck to the net and driving hard to the net. We played with a lot more of a sense of urgency than in the first game."
But Phoenix has also had a resilient streak this year and tied the game 4-4 when Shane Doan scored his first of the playoffs - and only his second goal since Jan. 31 - at the 9:24 mark of the third, setting the stage for the fabulous, dramatic finish.
"We just got away from the way we play and our style of game," said Coyotes' centre Matthew Lombardi, who scored the third Phoenix goal. "It gives them opportunities. If we're not playing quick and smart and getting back and turning pucks over, they jump on those opportunities.
Pavel Datsyuk scored the other Detroit goal, his playoff goal in 15 games.
Keith Yandle and Wolski replied for the Coyotes, who played in front of another sellout crowd of 17,386 at Jobing.com Arena.
Even though they didn't pass out free T-shirts this time around, most of the patrons were clad in white, once again creating the soon-to-be ubiquitous White Out.
Unlikely defensive breakdowns led to most of the goals, beginning with Zetterberg's first of the playoffs, when he found a seam down the middle of the ice and deflected Filppula's centering pass behind Bryzgalov.
Phoenix answered 38 seconds later, after Jimmy Howard and Niklas Kronwall got their signals crossed, permitting Wojtek Wolski to dart in and bury the loose puck, restoring Phoenix's one-goal lead.
Seventy-five seconds later, off a cycle in the zone, Datsyuk eluded Adrian Aucoin and converted Johan Franzen's feed out of the right corner.
Lombardi put the Coyotes ahead for the third time - after Shane Doan chipped the puck to him ahead of back-checking Drew Miller - but then the Red Wings scored virtually the identical goal 1:16 later, Filppula outskating Zbynek Michalek to the loose puck and deking Bryzgalov for the tying goal.
On Filppula's first of two, Coyotes' defenceman Ed Jovanovski laid a crushing hit on the Red Wings' Bertuzzi in mid-ice, reminiscent of Alex Ovechkin on Jaromir Jagr at the Olympics; Bertuzzi taking the proverbial hit to get the puck into the zone, where Filppula skated it down and put it in.
"Really important win," said Filppula, "and now that we're going back on home ice, we'll have a little more confidence with the win. Hopefully, we can keep playing like we did today and have a good run at home."