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Sharks hold serve, beat Red Wings 2-1 to take 2-0 series lead

Detroit Red Wings v San Jose Sharks - Game Two

in Game Two of the Western Conference Semifinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at HP Pavilion on May 1, 2011 in San Jose, California.

Ezra Shaw

We’ve made a lot out of road teams doing their part to upset the order of things in the playoffs by winning games in an alarming number but the San Jose Sharks did their part to uphold order in the second round. The Sharks held down home ice taking the first two games of the series after pulling off a 2-1 win over the Red Wings this afternoon.

The game headed into the third period with the Sharks holding down a 1-0 lead but it would be a sneaky shot from defenseman Niclas Wallin 1:39 into the third that would handcuff Jimmy Howard and end up in the net to give San Jose a 2-0 lead. That second goal turned out to be a big one for the Sharks as Henrik Zetterberg would snipe a power play goal with 6:02 to play in the third that would cut the lead to 2-1. From there, Antti Niemi would make it all stand up stopping 33 shots in the game on the way to the win.

For San Jose the key here was holding down home ice. That said, there’s encouraging things for them heading into Game 3 in that their defensive game plan is working perfectly. They’re pressuring Detroit at all times and making life for the Red Wings very uncomfortable in the offensive zone. Turnovers, bad shots, poor chances are the rule of the day for Detroit while San Jose is rolling like this.

Detroit will need to find a way to push the flow of play back on San Jose. They showed spurts of that late in this game but overall they’ve been taken to school by the Sharks. If Detroit’s not able to turn things around in Game 3, a repeat of last year’s five game exit from the playoffs at the hands of San Jose could be in order.

Here are the highlights from today’s game.

After the game, Darren Pang spoke with Sharks captain Joe Thornton about the win.

In the postgame recap, Dave Strader and Joe Micheletti talk about how the Sharks win a “nasty” game