Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks, 6-3; Tie Series at 2 Games

Hossa 2, Franzen 2, and Perry 2

PHOTO BY MIKE ISMAIR / ©AMERICAJR.com

Johan Franzen at the 2008 Red Wings Stanley Cup Parade.

Game four in Anaheim, the Ducks got off to a good start. Within the first minute of the game, the Ducks' Corey Perry scored. Perry skated along the right wing boards to get past the Red Wings’ defense. The Red Wings’ appeared to be having another slow start. Red Wings' Coach Mike Babcock decided to change the lines up.

Following a powerplay, that decision paid off. The Red Wings’ Johan Franzen scored to tie the game at one. Valtteri Filppula and Jonathan Ericsson got assists on the Red Wings’ goal. Following Franzen’s goal the Red Wings began to step up their play. They began controlling the flow of the game. But the Ducks rebounded. The flow of the game began to wane the Ducks’ way until Franzan scored again with 36 seconds remaining in the first period. Franzen defected a shot from Red Wings’ defenseman Niklas Kronwall.

The new line of Franzen, Filppula, and Marian Hossa continued to weave magic. About five minutes after Perry scored his second goal of the game and tied the game at two goals apiece, Marian Hossa scored his first goal of the series. Hossa doubled his efforts on the power play by scoring his second goal of the series and the game.

The third period began with a quick goal from Mikael Samuelsson of the Detroit Red Wings. The Ducks responded about eight minutes later with a power play goal by Scott Niedermayer. In the last two and a half minutes of the game, Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings capitalized on an empty net opportunity. Unfortunately for Red Wings fans, no Wings player scored a hat trick. If a Red Wing does score a hat trick, fans may bring a copy of the box score to Arby’s and receive a free roast beef sandwich.

The game is an example of what the Red Wings do best. Following Franzen’s first goal the Red Wings began taking the puck to the Ducks’ net and they never let up. If the Red Wings continue to play like this, they should be able to win the series. The Red Wings need to get off to a good start during the next game. The Wings and Ducks meet again in Detroit on Sunday. The game can be seen on FSN Detroit at 5 p.m. in Michigan or FSN West at 3 p.m. in California.