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SCF Game 2
Canucks 3 @ Red Wings 1
(Vancouver leads series 2-0)
Some big lineup changes for Detroit this game, obviously on defence with Kronwall out where Nick Jensen steps in on the third pairing and Stuart and Ouellet move up a spot, but also up front after the loss head coach Babcock has shuffled his lines, shuffling out Cal O'Reilly and bringing in Darren Helm. Helm will be centering the first line and Datsyuk, Filppula and Porter all drop down one spot each, also, Tatar will be up on the top line tonight while Nyquist moves down to the second line. The line changes didn't seem to inspire much as Detroit came out flat without Kronwall. Tatar did score first, from Datsyuk and Nyquist, but with only four shots generated all period, that was the lone offensive bright spot for the Wings. P.K. Subban evened it up on the powerplay from Bozak and Henrik after Frans Nielsen was whistled for slashing, and the ice continued to look very tilted in Vancouver's favour for the duration of the night. Grabner scored on a rush in the second from Kes and P.K. to give the Canucks the lead and Detroit just had no answer. In spite of Mrazek's efforts to redeem his previous outing (and by all accounts he had a stellar night, stopping 35 of 38 shots), Jake Muzzin added an insurance marker in the third (his sixth goal of the playoffs to lead all defensemen). Dan Hamhuis had a whopping eight shots on goal from the blueline tonight, as well as a hit and two blocked shots in almost twenty seven minutes of icetime. Muzzin blocked three shots, threw a hit and took five shots on goal to go with his goal and plus-2 rating. Grabner had a goal in five shots on net and also threw three hits. Datsyuk played valiantly in the loss, with an assist, plus-one, a shot on goal, two hits and a takeaway. Xavier Ouellet, playing on the first pairing in Kronwall's spot, looked a bit over his head, but did block a shot, get two hits and a takeaway and mostly hold his own, other than his minus-one, in twenty six minutes of icetime. Detroit's depleted blueline may lead to a shorter series than originally expected.
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