In Chicago, Roberto Luongo made an early lead stand up and the Canucks regained home-ice advantage by beating the Blackhawks 3-1 last night for a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Burned by the Blackhawks’ speed in the first two games, the Canucks were able to offset it with better puck control and an aggressive physical defense, despite the absence of versatile defenseman Sami Salo, who missed the game with an injury.
Game 4 is back at the United Center tomorrow night before the series returns to Vancouver for Game 5 on Saturday night.
After surrendering eight goals in the first two games of the series at Vancouver, Luongo finished with 23 saves last night, including a spectacular stop on Dave Bolland when the Blackhawks had a power play early in the third period.
Mason Raymond scored for the Canucks late in the first to give them the lead for the third straight game, and Steve Bernier’s goal during a power play early in the second put Vancouver up by two. Henrik Sedin’s fourth goal of the playoffs made it 3-0 in the second.
Ducks 2, Red Wings 1
In Anaheim, Teemu Selanne scored in the first period, Scott Niedermayer added a goal in the second, and Jonas Hiller made 18 of his 45 saves in the third for Anaheim, which grabbed a 2-1 lead over Detroit in the Western Conference semifinal series.
After building the first multiple-goal lead of the series, Hiller and the Ducks survived a third-period barrage by the defending champion Red Wings.
Detroit nearly tied the game with 1:09 remaining when Marian Hossa dived to knock in a loose puck in front of Hiller, but referee Brad Watson lost sight of the puck and whistled the play dead before the purported goal.
The Red Wings got a goal from Henrik Zetterberg in the second period and had a pair of power plays in the final 9:35, but couldn’t tie it.