Wings top Predators, advance to semifinals

April 21, 2008

The Detroit Red Wings can take a couple days to rest up.

The NHL's best team in the regular season won't miss the Western Conference semifinals this year. Nicklas Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler scored, and the Red Wings closed out their opening series by beating the Nashville Predators, 3-0, in Game 6 yesterday.

Brian Rafalski added an empty-netter with 4.8 seconds left. Goalie Chris Osgood stopped 20 shots for the shutout in his second straight playoff start as top-seeded Detroit became the first road team to win in this series.

Nashville had hoped to use hot goalie Dan Ellis and an earsplitting crowd to force Game 7 in Detroit tomorrow night. But the Predators missed their best scoring chance when David Legwand hit a post in the first period, and they failed to advance out of the first round for a fourth straight postseason -- each time on their home ice.

"As much as you talk about it, your body doesn't know how hard it's going to be in the playoffs," Mike Babcock said. "Until you engage, you don't know for sure. To me, we had to engage to win this series, which is a positive thing for us. It was a hard series. They drew a lot out of us and I think we're better for it now."

• Stars 4, Ducks 1 // Host Dallas is chasing the Stanley Cup into the second round of the playoffs -- and the reigning champs aren't. Stephane Robidas, playing with a cage covering his broken nose, scored the tying goal on the power play early in the third period then set up Stu Barnes for the go-ahead goal 52 seconds later to end their first-round series in six games. The Ducks are the fifth straight defending Stanley Cup champions to fail to make the second round. The NHL hasn't had a repeat winner since Detroit in 1997-98.

• Flames 2, Sharks 0 // Miika Kirpusoff made 21 saves, Owen Nolan and Daymond Langkow scored, and host Calgary beat San Jose to force Game 7. Nolan, a former Sharks star, opened the scoring midway through the first period and Langkow made it 2-0 with 57 seconds left in the second. The decisive match tomorrow night will be the first Game 7 the Sharks have hosted in franchise history.

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Wings top Predators, advance to semifinals

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Wings top Predators, advance to semifinals

Related topic galleries: Brian Rafalski, Owen Nolan, Stephane Robidas, Chris Osgood, Dan Ellis, David Legwand, Daymond Langkow

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