May 18, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith (2) celebrates with teammates including Henrik Zetterberg (40) after scoring a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period of game two of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Redemption was the front page story of today’s game…at least for one of the teams playing. The Detroit Red Wings gave as good as they got from the Chicago Blackhawks in game 1 and traded a 4-1 victory back to them at the United Center. Several players who were much maligned or just plain sucked earlier in the postseason turned in remarkable performances. Brendan Smith turned in a goal and three shots tonight after playing the goat for much of the last series, Valtteri Filppula scored a highlight-reel goal and had 18:05 of ice time in which he was -NOT- a liability unlike the past few games, and Johan Franzen finally showed some of the playoff fire he’s famous for, after coming into the game with 3 goals and a -7 rating in 8 games. The team that looked like it could have been swept after game one came out and outplayed, outpossessed, and outshot (30-20) a Chicago team that looked surprised by the intensity of Detroit’s play.

The tilt didn’t start off as well as it ended, however. Chicago came out of the gate into the first period dominating and hemming Detroit into their own zone. The Zetterberg line in particular was heavily outmatched by Chicago’s trio of Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, and Brandon Saad. However, it was the second line of Patrick Sharp, Michal Handzus, and Patrick Kane that made Detroit pay. Brendan Smith mishandled a clearing attempt and fell over at Chicago’s blue line, which resulted in a 3-on-1 against – sigh – Kyle Quincey. Cleary attempted a backcheck and did a good job of blocking Sharp’s original pass, but the puck bounced off him and right to Handzus, who fed it over to Kane who made the score 1-0 with his first playoff goal in over two years.

Despite looking invigorated from being scored against, Detroit wasn’t able to equalize until the second period, from a deflection courtesy of Damien Brunner off a Jakub Kindl point shot; Kindl made a great play to keep that puck and send it toward the net – he’s finally starting to show the maturity and patience with the puck that everyone expected when the Wings drafted him 19th overall in 2005. Kindl wasn’t the only recent first round pick to shine in the second period though; Brendan Smith stepped in to join a rush at the end of the period and tapped in a Zetterberg pass to put Detroit ahead by 1 going into the third period.

Thankfully, Detroit’s third period fortunes seem to have turned, as they continued to dominate the game at both ends of the ice and wound up with two goals for and none against to show for it. The first one came off the stick of Johan Franzen, who showcased his beautiful snap shot with a blast that rocketed over the glove of Chicago goalie Corey Crawford. The Mule can be as dominant as any player in the league when he gets angry, so hopefully the ire of that game 1 loss doesn’t leave him for game 3 on Monday. Goal #2 came from another underachieving forward in Valtteri Filppula, who scored an amazing highlight reel goal from his knees to cap off scoring at 4-1. Good game.

But where does this leave Detroit?

The Wings have essentially nullified Chicago’s home ice advantage by defeating them so thoroughly at the United Center, but they absolutely NEED to win both games at home if they want to take this series. I highly doubt Chicago will play this badly again at home, so it’s imperative that Detroit takes advantage of being at home while they still can. Tonight was a big step though, as the team showed that they can stick with and dominate the apparently-superior Hawks.

Thanks for reading, and go Wings! Follow me on twitter: @dzkefalas

May 12, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard (35) celebrates the 3-2 victory against the Anaheim Ducks following game seven of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Considering the past twenty-two years, who would’ve thought the Red Wings winning the Western Conference Quarterfinals in seven games would have been a feel good story?

This past season has been full of hurdles and obstacles that the team has somehow found a way to jump over and get around time and time again to keep the franchise’s winning tradition alive. Let’s take a look at a few of those:

- Losing Lidstrom

- Season-long (or close) injuries to Darren Helm, Todd Bertuzzi, Mikael Samuelsson, and Carlo Colaiacovo

- An all-rookie third line, as well as two rookie defensemen (Brendan Smith and Danny DeKeyser) given top four defensive minutes on a regular basis.

- Streaky play from key players like Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen (no surprise there) and even Henrik Zetterberg. Oh, and the complete disappearance of Valtteri Filppula. Although I have to say, he played decently tonight. Decently.

This was a team that everyone had pinned to miss the playoffs, and, when that was proven false, to lose to Anaheim handily in the first round. And they proved everyone wrong. This gives me hope for the upcoming series against Chicago – Detroit continues to defy their detractors and critics with better play and results…hopefully this is a trend that continues into the next series.

Ahhhhhhhhh. Anyway, onto the game itself…

Sunday night saw a raucous Anaheim home crowd silenced almost immediately by the strong play from Detroit coming out of the gate. Less than two minutes into the first period, Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring with assists from Jakub Kindl and Valtteri Filppula. Filppula, after making what may have been the worst play of his career with a giveaway that led to an Emerson Etem goal in game six, looked revitalized next to Zetterberg, and separating the Euro twins seemed to confuse the Ducks and seriously mess with coach Bruce Boudreau’s ability to create strong matchups.  They’re still a strong team however, and it only took them a few minutes to adjust before pressure was coming just as hard in the other direction. Anaheim tied the score twelve minutes later off a beautiful shot by Emerson Etem – he’s really starting to show flashes of the player the Ducks hoped he would become when they drafted him 29th overall in 2010. Justin Abdelkader seemed to take personal offense to that, however, and put the Wings back ahead less than three minutes later with a beautiful takeaway turned breakaway. Datsyuk must really be starting to rub off on Abby…I’d like to apologize again for my lack of faith in that combination earlier in the season. Because…wow.

The second period saw good back and forth hockey with chances for both teams, however  Detroit clearly drove possession and outplayed the opposition. They were rewarded for it with a goal off the backhand of Valtteri Filppula, though much of the credit should go to Zetterberg and Cleary, who teamed up with a beautiful passing play. It’s strange to think that two-thirds of that line might not be in Detroit next season…

The game *should have* ended up 3-1, but Anaheim was able to take advantage of another gift goal (cough-game six-cough) that took an unfortunate bounce off the skate of Jonathan Ericsson to put the score within one. Detroit controlled a majority of the period in a very obvious way, however, and despite a last minute push by the Ducks, the Red Wings came out of the game with a win and a berth in the second round.

Next up are the Blackhawks…yay?

As always, thanks for reading. Go Wings!!!

Follow me on twitter pleasepleaseplease: @dzkefalas