Football
18y

Winchester, Pisani rally Oilers past Red Wings, tie series

DETROIT (AP) -- The Edmonton Oilers are using a passive trap to stay with Detroit.

Just when they seemed to lull the Red Wings to sleep, the Oilers picked the right times to be aggressive in Game 2.

Brad Winchester and Fernando Pisani scored less than a minute apart late in the second period to rally Edmonton to a 4-2 victory over the top-seeded Red Wings on Sunday that tied the first-round playoff series.

Dwayne Roloson made 33 saves for the Oilers, who also got goals from Chris Pronger and Jarret Stoll to get even 1-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference matchup. Edmonton trailed 2-1 before Winchester and Pisani connected.

The Oilers clogged the middle of the ice with a trap for much of the game, negating Detroit's talent.

"They did a pretty good job in the neutral zone," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "We didn't come through it -- except in the second period -- with speed."

Trailing 2-1, the Oilers did some aggressive forechecking while Detroit seemed casual with the puck. That led to the tying and go-ahead goals that made it 3-2 with 1:14 left in the second period.

"We needed to differentiate when we backed up and when we put on pressure -- and we did that," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said.

Edmonton's Michael Peca forced Kirk Maltby's giveaway in the corner and centered the puck for Pisani's goal. Pronger took the puck from Detroit's Jason Williams along the boards and passed it to Winchester, who scored from between the circles on a hard shot goalie Manny Legace appeared to have in clear view.

"They really capitalized on a couple of our mistakes by scoring a couple of quick goals," Williams said.

Winchester's goal was his first in the NHL after earning one assist in 19 regular-season games as a rookie. He didn't play in Game 1, but MacTavish put him in the lineup after liking what he saw when Winchester skated with Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Smyth during Saturday's practice.

"A coach has got to be right occasionally," MacTavish joked.

Legace, who gave up three goals on 16 shots through two periods, finished with 20 saves.

Henrik Zetterberg put the Red Wings ahead 2-1 midway through the second period, but they couldn't hold on against the pesky Oilers and then failed to force a second straight overtime.

Steve Yzerman had a chance to make it 3-all early in the third period, but his swooping shot on a breakaway hit the post. Roloson smothered Zetterberg's breakaway with 8:41 left to ensure there wouldn't be a comeback like the one Detroit had in its 3-2 double-overtime victory on Friday.

The Red Wings had an extra attacker in the final 50 seconds -- after pulling Legace -- but couldn't tie it. Stoll scored into an empty net to seal the victory in the final seconds.

Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Edmonton.

"Everybody said this was going to be a tough series, so nobody expected us to win all four games," Detroit's Brendan Shanahan
said. "We knew we'd have to win a game in Edmonton."

The Oilers scored first in Game 2 -- after a shotless 6½ minutes -- 12:32 into the game.

Pronger's long slap shot from the middle of the ice, his second such goal in two games, gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead.

Two-plus minutes later, Williams tied it with a lucky goal that went off his skates, the side of the net and Roloson's skate. Zetterberg put the Red Wings up 2-1 when he got his stick on a puck in the crease, turned and shot it past Roloson.

"In second period, though the first 15 minutes, I thought it was the best we played," Babcock said. "Then we turned the puck over a couple of times and then they outplayed us after that."

Game notes
Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk (left thigh) returned to the lineup after being out for almost three weeks because he really wanted to play, despite Babcock's concern that he wasn't ready. ... One of Edmonton's key players, Ethan Moreau, might play in Game 3 for the first time in the series. ... Williams' goal was his first career
playoff point.

^ Back to Top ^