Detroit Red Wings Win Game 3, Take 2-1 Lead Over Chicago Blackhawks

Oh those feisty Detroit Red Wings. Paying little mind to the prognosticators who looked at the Red Wings as a mere bump in the road (I raise my hand), Detroit used a solid goaltending effort from Jimmy Howard to defeat the heavily favored Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 and grab a 2-1 lead in the best of 7 Western Conference semi finals.

If you are keeping score that's two straight games the high powered Hawks have scored just one goal. Howard was brilliant in game 3, stopping 39 of 49 Hawk scoring chances. Only Patrick Kane managed to get a puck past the stingy Wing goaltender.

The Hawks thought they tied the game at 2 right after that but the goal was disallowed after Chicago's Andrew Shaw appeared to tie the game. However it was deemed Shaw was in the crease and the goal was negated.

The Redwings, the 7th seed in the west scored the first two goals of the game. Gustav Nyquist opened the scoring at 7:49 of the second period. Detroit scored again 31 seconds later as Drew Miller scored his first of the playoffs. After Kane brought Chicago within one, it was the Wings Pavel Datsyuk who gave the Red Wings the two goal cushion again and made the final 3-1.

Chicago is the overwhelming favorite to at least get to the Cup final, if not win it. They opened the season with an NHL record 24 straight games without a loss and have faced little or no adversity so far. Consider the Black Hawks are for the 1st time this season in trouble