NHL PLAYOFFS : Red Wings Keep Overtime Playoff Work to a Minimum
If you have to go to overtime, the best way to avoid problems is to score quickly. And the best way to do that is to shoot often.
It took 61 extra seconds, but only one shot Thursday night in Detroit.
The Red Wings got Nicklas Lidstrom’s goal only 1:01 into the first overtime they have been in during the playoffs and beat Chicago, 2-1, in the opening game of their best-of-seven Western Conference final series.
“We said before the overtime that we wanted to get as many shots on net as possible,” Lidstrom said. “So, when we won the draw, Shawn [Burr] went to the net and I just took a shot. I thought it was going to hit Shawn’s skate, but it didn’t. And then I heard it hit the net. It was an unbelievable feeling.”
It was Chicago’s fifth overtime game during the playoffs.
Chicago goaltender Ed Belfour was screened on Lidstrom’s shot. His reach for the puck was short and late as it went into the net to set off a deluge of octopuses on the ice, a tradition in Detroit.
It was the first overtime victory in the playoffs at home for the Red Wings since March 29, 1960, when they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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