Western Conference
Detroit Red Wings 3, San Jose Sharks 1 --The Detroit Red Wings have refused to roll over in this series, and have now forced a decisive Game Seven against a reeling Sharks team that doesn't quite know how this happened to them. All of the scoring in this game took place in the third period after two tightly contested shutout periods to begin the game. Sharks forward Logan Couture began the scoring at 3:54 into the third, but Detroit quickly responded with two goals of their own less than two minutes apart by Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula. Darren Helm added an empty net goal to seal the come-from-behind victory.
Detroit has been tied or trailing entering the third period of the past three games; in those three games, they have outscored San Jose by a 7-3 margin. Antti Niemi made 42 saves for San Jose, but his effort simply wasn't enough to secure the victory. This series now moves to San Jose, where they will play in front of a very nervous fanbase.
In NHL history, only eight teams have been down 3-0 in a series and have survived to force a Game Seven; it has happened three times in the past two years, and once in both rounds of the 2011 NHL playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks fell in OT after forcing a Game Seven against the Vancouver Canucks. The comeback team has a 3-4 record in these games, making this series a historical tossup.
Game Seven will be played Thursday, May 12 at 9:00p.m. EDT, on Versus