NHL Playoffs: Hot Flames and streaking Red Wings
After the way they dominated the Calgary Flames in Game 1 of their playoff series, it’s highly unlikely the Detroit Red Wings are worried about another first-round playoff exit.
The Red Wings did everything better than the Flames in their 4-1 victory Thursday night. They outshot, outhit and simply outplayed Calgary at every turn. Mathieu Schneider set the tone early on with a big hit on Matthew Lombardi, and maligned sniper Pavel 
Datsyuk finally scored in the NHL playoffs.
Shifty Swede Henrik Zetterberg returned after a 19-game layoff and even though he didn’t score, he showed he’s fully healthy and should be a factor for Detroit in the postseason.
Any question marks surrounding aging goalie Dominik Hasek were also answered as the Dominator just missed his 13th career playoff shutout by thwarting 19 of Calgary’s 20 shots. Scoring for the Red Wings in the win besides Datysuk were Valtteri Filppula, Nicklas Lidstrom and Schneider.
The Flames started out slowly and the Wings never allowed them to gain any momentum. Calgary didn’t even get on the board until Alex Tanguay scored with less than five minutes to go in the third period, but by then the outcome was already decided. Flames’ captain and leading scorer Jarome Iginla was held without a shot on goal.
Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was unable to find any of the playoff magic he showed in Calgary’s run to the Stanley Cup finals three years ago, but it wasn’t all his fault. The Calgary defense didn’t give Kiprusoff much help as he was peppered with 46 shots by Detroit.
It was only one game so the Flames haven’t been snuffed out, but they’ll have to wake up in a hurry as Game 1 continued their late-season pattern of sleepy efforts and poor results.
The Red Wings could get even stronger on Saturday night as power forward Todd Bertuzzi is expected to make his return to the lineup after suffering a concussion late in the regular NHL season.
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Stanley Cup Prediction: Our choice is the San Jose Sharks, a team that often shines after millions of hockey fans in the East have gone to bed.
