Red Wings Get Unexpected Lift

Kirk Maltby scored his second goal 2 minutes 39 seconds into double overtime Friday night to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Detroit in Game 1 of their first-round series.

Maltby ended the 3 1/2 -hour game with a shot from outside the right circle that was deflected past goaltender Dwayne Roloson by the stick of Edmonton teammate Rem Murray.

“Our coaching staff has been harping on us to get the puck on the net because you never know what can happen,” Maltby said. “My shot just clipped his stick, and more times than not, those are the kind of goals that win in OT.”

Maltby made it 2-2 with 6:17 left in regulation when he scored off a rebound on a goal that stood after a video review. He had only five goals this season after scoring 14 in each of the previous two.

“You need guys like Malts to win at playoff time -- he competes,” Coach Mike Babcock said after coaching Detroit for the first time in the postseason.

Roloson made 54 saves.

“Unfortunately, they got a lucky bounce at the end of the game,” Roloson said. “You can’t fault our guys at all.”

Manny Legace, who made only 23 saves for the Red Wings, said he felt a sense of relief.

“Especially when it goes to double overtime and the other goalie stands on his head,” Legace said. “We got lucky.”

The Oilers had a chance to beat the Stanley Cup favorites, but Edmonton Coach Craig MacTavish said his team has to quickly get over the disappointment before Game 2 on Sunday.

“You can’t carry that baggage long in postseason because that really debilitates your ability to bounce back,” MacTavish said.

Nashville 4, San Jose 3 -- Adam Hall scored the go-ahead goal at 12:06 of the third period by redirecting a shot by Paul Kariya, who assisted on all four of the Predators’ power-play goals, and Nashville proved to be too tough at home for the Sharks.

Mike Sillinger scored and had an assist, and Martin Erat and rookie defenseman Shea Weber had their first playoff goals as the Predators showed why they were 32-8-1 at home, the best mark in the NHL.

Ottawa 4, Tampa Bay 1 -- Martin Havlat and Jason Spezza scored power-play goals 1:07 apart early in the third period, Mike Fisher added a short-handed goal and the Senators rallied to beat the Lightning at Ottawa.

Vincent Lecavalier opened the scoring on a two-man advantage late in the first and Tampa Bay, which outshot Ottawa, 16-11, in a fast-paced opening period, held a 1-0 lead through 40 minutes.