Jimmy Howard was a game changer for the Red Wings, he had 39 saves on 40 shots and was stellar in net.

The best part of the win was that depth that the Red Wings shined brightly. Their first two goals came from their 3rd and 4th line pressuring and over powering the Blackhawks’ lines. Pavel Datsyuk put the dagger into Chicago with a gorgeous wrister, which brought back shades of the goal he scored on Jonas Hiller in the 1st round.

The Red Wings penalty kill was fantastic last night against the Hawks. The addition of Drew Miller seems to have had a great effect on the crew and he helped kill a big penalty in the 2nd period.

Drew Miller and Jonathan Ericsson were on the ice for 3 minutes and 15 seconds and worked their tail off the entire time.

We found a new player on Chicago to focus our hate on, Andrew Shaw. He hit Brendan Smith in the head and in the last couple minute of the 3rd he was out of control.

The refs had to throw him out of the game at the end of the 3rd because he was not playing hockey, he was looking to hurt someone.

The Red Wings have two days off before they face-off against the Blackhawks again for game four on Thursday, May 23rd at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. For the full schedule visit our Playoff Schedule Page.

May 18, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks left wing Brandon Saad (20) is checked into the Detroit Red Wings bench by left wing Justin Abdelkader (8) in the second period of game two of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the United Center. The Red Wings won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Red Wings face-off against the Chicago Blackhawks today at 7:30 p.m. EDT in Joe Louis Arena.

The Red Wings responded in game two after a bad start to the series and will look to continue their good fortune tonight. The Wings cannot afford to let the Blackhawks take the series lead again. If Detroit wants to take this series they have to go up a game.

The Blackhawks are not going to make it easy on Detroit though. Jonathan Toews was not happy with the officiating in game two and Marian Hossa was flopping all over the ice, so who knows what is in store tonight. The Red Wings do not need to take this game, but it would certainly help.

Projected Line-up

Forwards

Johan Franzen – Pavel Datsyuk – Justin Abdelkader

Valtteri Filppula – Henrik Zetterberg – Daniel Cleary

Gustav Nyquist – Joakim Andersson – Damien Brunner

Drew Miller – Cory Emmerton – Patrick Eaves

Defensemen

Niklas Kronwall – Jonathan Ericsson

Brendan Smith – Kyle Quincey

Jakub Kindl – Carlo Colaiacovo

Goaltender

Jimmy Howard

Brendan Smith will need to play a simple game today, no bad turnovers and good offensive plays.

The forth line looked good in game two and Drew Miller brings more speed and defensive abilities to the the Wings.

The power play has to get jump started in game three, they cannot let Chicago get away clean after taking a penalty.

Prediction: Coming off of a big win in Chicago and playing in front of the home crowd should energize the Red Wings. 3-1 Red Wing victory.