Henrik Zetterberg had two goals as the Detroit Red Wings scored three times on the powerplay en route to a 6-1 rout of the Chicago Blackhawks and a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference final series.
Forward Marian Hossa also scored two goals for defending champion Detroit, which moved within one win of a return trip to the Stanley Cup finals.
The Red Wings played without two of their star players, Russian Pavel Datsyuk and Swedish captain Nicklas Lidstrom.
“We heard this morning during the pregame meal he [Lidstrom] was not playing. We just had to deal with it,” Zetterberg said. “Everybody had to step up and play.”
Detroit can advance to the finals against either Pittsburgh or Carolina with a win tomorrow at home.
The Blackhawks had to play without their top scorer Martin Havlat and No. 1 goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. It showed on Sunday as Khabibulin’s backup Cristobal Huet struggled, allowing five goals on 21 shots. Huet was pulled in the second period before being put back in for the third.
Detroit’s Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin combined for 27 saves. Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen also scored for the Red Wings.
Detroit scored every which way on Sunday, getting a short-handed goal and three off the power play.
Six-time Norris Trophy winner (best defenseman) Lidstrom sat out with a undisclosed injury while a sore foot prevented Datsyuk from playing for the second consecutive game.
The game got chippy as the referees gave Chicago 56 minutes in penalty to just 14 for Detroit.
“You know, they scored, it’s 3-0. They [the referees] ruined a good hockey game and absolutely destroyed what was going on on the ice,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “Never seen anything like it.”
The Chicago players were still steaming on Sunday over Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall’s vicious hit on Havlat in the last game. Kronwall charged across the ice then jumped and hit Havlat with a forearm smash to the head that knocked the Blackhawk out.
“They didn’t basically have anything else to do once the game kind of ran away,” Zetterberg said.
Havlat tried to play on Sunday but lasted just eight minutes before heading to the dressing room.
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