Red Wings Eliminated: Comeback Falls Short as Ducks Advance

Three third-period goals by the Detroit Red Wings weren’t enough on Tuesday night. The Anaheim Ducks scored that many in the first two periods and added one more in the final frame to hold off a Detroit comeback and pick up a 4-3 win in game six of their Western Conference Final matchup, giving the Ducks a 4-2 series victory.

Anaheim will advance to face the Eastern Conference Champion Ottawa Senators.

Heading into the third period down by three, the Red Wings charged back, led by Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

Zetterberg got Detroit on the board just 3:15 into the period, deflecting a pass from Chris Chelios past Anaheim netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

After a Ducks goal by Samuel Pahlsson only 2:39 later, Datsyuk scored twice on the power play to pull the Red Wings to within one with 3:04 left to play.

With goalie Dominik Hasek on the bench for an extra attacker, the Wings were unable to get the tying goal past Giguere to force overtime, ending their season.

The Ducks controlled the first two periods of the game and opened the scoring only 3:51 in, when Rob Niedermayer tipped a shot from the blue line by Chris Pronger past Hasek for a shorthanded goal.

Chris Perry extended the Ducks’ lead at 9:52 of the second, putting the rebound of a Francois Beauchemin past a sprawling Hasek.

Ryan Getzlaf added a power play goal with 1:27 remaining in the middle period, also scoring with Hasek sprawled on his back.

The teams each took 29 shots. Anaheim outshot Detroit 26-13 in the first two periods but the Red Wings had a 16-3 margin in the third.

The Ducks scored once while shorthanded, once on a delayed penalty, and once on their four power play attempts. The Red Wings scored on two of seven power plays.