Last night, the Detroit Red Wings opened up a 2-0 series lead on divisional rival, Nashville Predators. It seems that the Wings have forgotten about their six game losing streak to end the regular season and their 1-4-1 mark against the Predators in the regular season.
After winning game 1 by a surprising 5-2 score where Nashville netminder and OTHL All-star, Tomas Vokoun was chased from the nets after just 17 shots in which he allowed the five goals. This series had been billed as a matchup of defenses and All-star goalies, but you never would have thought that by the wide open style of play displayed in game 1.
Game 2 is what we came to expect from these two teams: a low-scoring, tight-checking affair. Anson Carter got things going for Detroit in the first with his second goal of the playoffs. Detroit extended their lead to 2-0 in the second on a goal from Kris Draper. Nashville cut the lead to 2-1 early in the third on a powerplay goal by Hartnell, but that was as close as they got as Detroit shut the door the rest of the way out.
We caught up with the Wings general manager, Ryan Caster, who commented on his team's start to the playoffs. "I am glad to see we got things going in the right direction. The best part of the playoffs is finding yourself and unexpected guys coming to the forefront and playing hero. We got that from Kris tonight. For Kris to get the game winning goal, thats huge for us. We have everyone chipping in and doing their job, but we also realize this series is far from over. Nashville has a great team and a goaltender that can easily steal some games. We just have to stay sharp and hopefully healthy. Thanks."
The series now shifts to Nashville where the Predators look to even up the series with two games on home ice. Hopefully the Wings will be able to keep it together and survive the 1st round of the OTHL playoffs.