***** National Hockey League Previews from The Sports Network *****
                               Saturday, May 18th
                              (All times Eastern)
 
 (7) DETROIT RED WINGS (0-1) AT (1) CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (1-0), 1 P.M.
 
 (Sports Network) - The top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks will try to extend their
 lead in the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday when they host the
 Detroit Red Wings in Game 2 at United Center.
 
 Chicago, winners of this season's Presidents' Trophy, started Wednesday's Game
 1 slowly, but scored three times in the third period en route to a 4-1
 victory. The Blackhawks, who beat Minnesota in five games in Round 1, are in
 the conference semifinals for the first time since winning a Stanley Cup in
 2010.
 
 Patrick Sharp posted a goal and two assists, while Marcus Kruger and Marian
 Hossa each scored once for the Blackhawks, who have won eight straight against
 the Red Wings, including all four meetings during the 2013 regular season.
 
 Corey Crawford stopped 20-of-21 shots for Chicago, which was forced to
 overtime before beating eighth-seeded Minnesota in Game 1 during the
 conference quarterfinals. The Blackhawks also lost Game 3 in overtime in the
 first round.
 
 "Much better from our prior series," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said of
 his team's play in Game 1 against Detroit. "I thought what we're talking about
 in our team game was in place. Had some pace, had some speed, zone time, and I
 thought everybody contributed."
 
 Chicago killed off all three Detroit power plays and has not allowed a power-
 play goal in 20 opportunities this postseason.
 
 Johnny Oduya's go-ahead goal just over eight minutes into the third sparked
 Chicago's game-winning final period on Wednesday. With plenty of room to work,
 Oduya made his way just inside the circles before ripping a wrister past Red
 Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard for a 2-1 lead at 8:02.
 
 Chicago doubled its edge under 3 1/2 minutes later when Dan Carcillo hustled
 to get to a chip-in behind the Detroit net and poked the puck into the slot,
 where Kruger recovered it before flipping a backhander into the back of net to
 make it 3-1 at 11:23.
 
 The Red Wings put together a flurry with under three minutes left, but Damien
 Brunner's backhand attempt off a rebound rang off the crossbar and was swept
 away by Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook to keep the margin at two.
 
 Sharp then potted an empty-netter with 49 seconds left to end Detroit's
 comeback bid.
 
 "They were better than us," Detroit coach Mike Babcock admitted. "The score
 tonight was more than fair as far as I'm concerned. They were better."
 
 Brunner recorded the lone Detroit goal, while Howard posted 38 saves for the
 seventh-seeded Red Wings, who upset the Pacific Division champion Anaheim
 Ducks in seven games during the conference quarterfinals.
 
 Detroit forward Mikael Samuelsson suffered an undisclosed injury in practice
 on Tuesday and missed Game 1. He is questionable for Saturday's rematch.
 
 The Blackhawks are 4-0 on home ice in these playoffs after going 18-3-3 at the
 United Center during the regular season. Detroit, which will host Game 3 on
 Monday, was 11-9-4 as the guest in the regular season and is 2-3 on the road
 in the playoffs.
 
 These Central Division and Original Six foes also have met 15 times in the
 playoffs and Chicago has taken eight of those series. However, Detroit has
 claimed the last two postseason encounters, including a five-game series win
 when the franchise's last met in the playoffs in the 2009 Western Conference
 finals.
 
 (5) LOS ANGELES KINGS (2-0) AT (6) SAN JOSE SHARKS (0-2), 9 P.M.
 
 (Sports Network) - The San Jose Sharks will try to rebound from a crushing
 loss when they host the Los Angeles Kings in Game 3 of the Western Conference
 semifinals on Saturday.
 
 The Sharks find themselves down 2-0 in this best-of-seven series against the
 defending Stanley Cup champions. The last meeting saw San Jose implode in the
 final two minutes en route to a Game 2 setback in Los Angeles.
 
 San Jose trailed 2-0 in the early stages of Thursday's battle, but tied the
 game at 2-2 by the end of the second period before taking the lead with 11:04
 left in the third. The Sharks held the 3-2 edge heading into the final two
 minutes before the Kings scored a pair of power-play goals to win it 4-3 in
 regulation.
 
 Dustin Brown and Trevor Lewis scored power-play goals just 22 seconds apart
 for the fifth-seeded Kings, who have now won six straight since falling behind
 two games to none in the opening round against St. Louis. Los Angeles went
 16-4 last spring to claim the franchise's first Stanley Cup title and is
 trying to become the first team to win back-to-back championships since
 Detroit in 1997 and '98.
 
 The Kings, who have won 12 straight at the Staples Center dating back to the
 regular season, began their comeback late in the third after San Jose's Brad
 Stuart was called for tripping. Just 22 seconds later, Marc-Edouard Vlasic was
 whistled for a delay of game as he flipped the puck over the glass in his own
 zone.
 
 On the 5-on-3, Mike Richards threw a shot on net from the left circle that was
 stopped by San Jose goaltender Antti Niemi. Jeff Carter was then able to push
 the rebound to the front where Brown pushed the puck in to tie the contest at
 18:17.
 
 Still on a man advantage, the Kings then went up as Tyler Toffoli, playing his
 first playoff game, came in down the right wing and fired a shot on net that
 Niemi made a right pad save on, but the rebound kicked out to the left and
 Lewis buried it for a 4-3 lead with 1:21 to play.
 
 The Sharks got Niemi out of the net in the final minute for an extra attacker,
 but were unable to get anything going before time expired.
 
 "Yeah, it was a good breakout. Toffoli made a great shot and luckily it
 bounced right off my stick," said Lewis. "We know we didn't play our best so
 we got some work to do and clean things up. It's a big comeback for our team
 and it's a huge win for us."
 
 Jeff Carter had a goal and an assist while Drew Doughty also scored for the
 Kings. Jonathan Quick, who posted a shutout in Tuesday's 2-0 victory, made 28
 saves in the win.
 
 "We found a way," said Kings head coach Darryl Sutter. "You know what, the
 power play was on, we've been talking about it, we've been getting good looks
 and good opportunities and not finishing and we got it from different guys
 quite honestly. It was good to see Brown score a goal, breakout hopefully, and
 Lewis scoring the winner and Toffoli making a great play."
 
 Despite taking the game-changing penalties, Stuart had a goal and an assist in
 the loss while Vlasic also scored. Patrick Marleau also tallied and Niemi made
 27 stops in the loss.
 
 "Tomorrow when we meet I'll tell them the good things we did," San Jose head
 coach Todd McLellan said after the heartbreaking defeat. "We will talk about
 some of the adjustments we made and how it helped us. We'll talk about things
 we need to clean up a little bit and the most important thing is they'll know
 we believe in them. It was a hell of an effort tonight."
 
 San Jose played the game without forward Raffi Torres as he was suspended for
 the rest of this semifinal series for an illegal hit to the head of Kings
 forward Jarret Stoll in Game 1 on Tuesday. Stoll is still sidelined
 indefinitely with what is rumored to be a concussion.
 
 The sixth-seeded Sharks hope they can get things back on track at home, where
 they were 17-2-5 during the regular season. San Jose also won both games at HP
 Pavilion in their opening-round sweep of Vancouver.
 
 Los Angeles, meanwhile, was 1-2 as the guest in Round 1 after posting a sub-
 par 8-12-4 record on the road during the regular season. The Kings and Sharks
 split four regular-season meetings this year, with each team winning twice at
 home.
 
 Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday in San Jose.
 
 This marks just the second postseason meeting between these two Pacific
 Division rivals. The Sharks got the best of the Kings in six games during the
 2011 conference quarterfinals.
 
 
 
 05/18 11:19:58 ET

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