Wings Take 3-2 Series Lead with 4-1 Win

It was another case of the final scoreboard not accurately depicting the tightness of the game itself, but a win is a win, and it's all the Red Wings needed to give themselves an opportunity to close out the series on home ice in Game Six.

The game itself was not unlike Game 4, with a very tight start with neither team allowing their opponents many scoring chances and both goalies looking sharp. A lead was taken a little earlier this time around though, thanks to a centering attempt from Drew Miller that found its way over the goal-line from a Coyotes skate. The lead came with just under 3 minutes remaining in the first and would be held into the break.

You have to wonder what kind of crowd serenades a goalie that is on a shutout streak of around 100 minutes, but in the second frame -- for some bewildering reason -- the Fans in White saw fit to jeer Jimmy Howard, even before he'd let in the first goal. It took some rough, but probably legal treatment of the Wings' goalie to get the Coyotes on the board mid-way through the game as Ed Jovanovski put in a rebound in the crease with one skate on the leg of a downed Howard.

The game was a see-saw affair in the third with some Howard brilliance preserving the tie-game until an offensive breakout of two goals in 70 seconds got the Red Wings a 2-goal lead with 7:41 to play.

It was still difficult to feel comfortable however, particularly when Henrik Zetterberg was called for hooking with 5:24 left on the clock. If the Wings couldn't kill their 19th-straight penalty, you got the feeling a team like the Phoenix Coyotes could just maybe force this into OT with another late goal.

The PK stood strong though, and the Wings went on to finish with a 4-1 result.

Game Notes

- Zetterberg's empty-netter gave him his sixth goal of the playoffs, second only to ex-Wing, Mikael Samuelsson's amazing 7-goal start with the Sedins in Vancouver.

- The win ends a 10-game losing streak since 1966, for Red Wings Game Five's on the road.

- Detroit has now outscored the Coyotes 7-1 in the last two games with Jimmy Howard stopping 59 of 60 shots.

- The Wings PP struggled going 0/6 for the night. A big contributor to the PP woes, was winning only 1 draw out of 9 with the man-advantage!

The series shifts back to Detroit for Game 6 on Sunday.