The Edmonton Oilers sent home the NHL's best team in the regular season, rallying on Monday night to beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 and win the first-round playoff series in six games.
Ales Hemsky scored twice, including the winner with 1:06 left in regulation time, capping a comeback from a 2-0 deficit after two periods. It was Edmonton's first playoff series win since 1998 -- and another huge early-round disappointment for Detroit.
Fernando Pisani also scored twice for the Oilers.
PHOTO: AP
Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg and Robert Lang scored for the Red Wings.
The Oilers tied it 3-3 on a power play, when the puck deflected off Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff to Hemsky at the side of the net.
He whacked away at the puck, then Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom pushed Hemsky into the net. The puck went in, too, and the play went under video review to determine if the puck was kicked in.
After a lengthy delay, officials eventually awarded Hemsky the goal with 3:53 remaining.
Franzen flicked in a rebound at 10:07 of the third period to put the Red Wings ahead 3-2. Pisani had tied it 2-2 when he deked goalie Manny Legace and scored with a shot through the left side at 6:40 of the third.
Pisani's power-play goal 2:56 into the third period brought the Oilers within 2-1.
The Red Wings controlled the second period, outshooting the Oilers 17-2. Steve Yzerman set up Lang's power-play goal to make it 2-0. Red Wings captain Yzerman sat out the previous two games with a nagging back injury.
Yzerman's point moved him ahead of Bryan Trottier into eighth spot with 185 career playoff points.
Zetterberg got the Red Wings a 1-0 lead late in the first period, when the Oilers outshot Detroit 15-10. The forward scored on Dwayne Roloson six times this series.
The Red Wings have lost in the first or second round of the last three playoffs.
Mighty Ducks 2, Flames 1
At Anaheim, California, defenseman Scott Niedermayer's power-play goal with 5:37 remaining lifted the Mighty Ducks and forced a Game 7 in their Western Conference playoffs.
Anaheim's Ilya Bryzgalov, who got the start in goal over Jean-Sebastien Giguere, stopped 21 shots, allowing only Stephane Yelle's first-period goal.
Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff faced 30 shots.
The final game of the series is tonight in Calgary.
In the first six games, each time a team lost, it bounced back to win the next contest.
Niedermayer picked up a rebound of a shot by Corey Perry, sliced to his left behind the net, then slid the puck toward the crease, where it hit Rhett Warrener and skittered past Kiprusoff and into the net.
The goal was Niedermayer's second of the series.
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