The Wings' depth never was more apparent than in this 4-3 heart-stopping victory, one that down to the last minute showed that while the Pittsburgh-Washington series was about which team had the best player in the NHL, the Detroit-Anaheim series was fought between the best teams in hockey, and that the better one won.
Pointedly enough for the defending champions, who famously killed off a 5-on-3 in last year's Stanley Cup-clinching game in Pittsburgh, they had to do so twice to beat the Ducks. The first one lasted 1:10 and started after Niklas Kronwall was called for hooking Teemu Selanne at 5:32 of a 0-0 first period and with Zetterberg having gone off at 4:42.
Nicklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart and Pavel Datsyuk not only left the Ducks with just one shot in that 70-second stretch, Datsyuk also raced the puck all the way down the ice and got a shot on Jonas Hiller.Stuart started the stretch by blocking one of Chris Pronger's monster shots.
"I was more shocked by having two of them in a Game 7 when there hasn't been one in the playoffs so far," goalie Chris Osgood said, "but then again, we had them in the finals last year. I think Pav, I mean, he's snakebit, but he played great defensively and killed penalties awesomely tonight. And Hank must have had five or six blocked shots. They're all our star players. Those penalty kills really showed our character."
Zetterberg, Kronwall and Lidstrom killed off 35 seconds midway through the second period. Zetterberg used his body to deny Ryan Getzlaf two chances.
"I said to Z on the bench, 'That's why you're the best, you know,' " Dan Cleary said. "I mean, what can you say? Conn Smythe winner, he's right there again this year. Those things, the two huge blocked shots on Getzlaf -- he's got a rocket and it was a huge kill. Pavel was great. We're very fortunate that our best offensive players are our best defensive players."
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