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DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Red Wings survived a scare because Kirk Maltby has been listening to his coaches.

Maltby scored his second goal of the night 2:39 into double overtime to lift Detroit to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their first-round series Friday.

He ended the 3 1/2-hour game with a long shot from outside the right circle that was deflected past goaltender Dwayne Roloson by the stick of Edmonton teammate Rem Murray.

"Our coaching staff has been harping on us to get the puck on the net because you never know what can happen," Maltby said. "My shot just clipped his stick, and more times than not, those are the kind of goals that win in OT."

Maltby made it 2-all with 6:17 left in regulation when he scored off a rebound on a goal that stood after a video review. He had just five goals this season after scoring 14 in each of the previous two.


"You need guys like Malts to win at playoff time - he competes," coach Mike Babcock said after coaching Detroit for the first time in the postseason.

Roloson made 54 saves.

"Unfortunately, they got a lucky bounce at the end of the game," Roloson said. "You can't fault our guys at all."

Manny Legace, who made just 23 saves for the Red Wings, said he felt a sense of relief.

"Especially when it goes to double overtime and the other goalie stands on his head," Legace said. "We got lucky."

Game 2 of the best-of-seven Western Conference series is Sunday in Detroit.

The Oilers had a chance to steal the game against the Stanley Cup favorites, but Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said his team has to quickly get over the disappointment.

"You can't carry that baggage long in postseason because that really debilitates you ability to bounce back," MacTavish said.

Three of the four regular-season meetings went to overtime with Detroit winning the lone game decided in regulation. The Red Wings won once in overtime, and the Oilers won a game in overtime and another in a shootout.

The Red Wings entered the playoffs with the best record in the NHL for the third time in four seasons, but they are coming off two straight early postseason exits.

Detroit got off to a good start, with Robert Lang scoring on the power play for a 1-0 lead 4:05 in, but Legace gave up goals on two of the first seven shots he faced.

Edmonton's Sergei Samsonov made it 1-all midway through the first period, and Chris Pronger's slap shot from just inside the middle of the blue line at 8:43 of the second gave the gritty Oilers the lead.

Maltby scored his first goal when he charged toward the net and got the middle of his stick on a rebound off Johan Franzen's shot. The sellout crowd erupted when the red lamp was lit, and did again following a review.

The fans booed just as loudly when Detroit's Brendan Shanahan was called for roughing with 1:50 remaining in regulation, but they were happy again when Legace turned away the Oilers with about 15 seconds left.

"We had lots of opportunities to win the game ourselves," MacTavish said.

Roloson, acquired on March 7 from Minnesota, made 14 saves in the first period and 16 in the second before facing fewer shots in the third. He stopped 16 shots in the first OT.

The NHL journeyman gave Hockeytown a flashback to the outstanding goaltending the Red Wings faced when Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff and Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere helped their teams eliminate Detroit in the second and first rounds of the 2004 and 2003 playoffs, respectively. Those clubs both reached the Stanley Cup finals.

The Oilers haven't advanced in the playoffs since 1998, when Dallas eliminated Edmonton for the first of five straight postseason appearances, with the last one coming three years ago.

Detroit is the most experienced team in the playoffs with more than 1,500 combined games and 26 Stanley Cup rings while the current Oilers entered the postseason with 449 games of experience and no championships.

The Red Wings are in the postseason for the 15th straight season, the longest active streak in professional sports.

Notes: C Pavel Datsyuk, who led the Red Wings in scoring this season, missed the game as expected because of a left thigh injury. He said "maybe" when asked if he'll be ready for Game 2. ... Oilers LW Ethan Moreau (groin) was also scratched. ... Chris Chelios, Detroit's 44-year-old defenseman, has appeared in 21 postseasons, tying Ray Bourque's NHL record. ... Maltby had his second career two-goal game in the playoffs, and first since 1997 in the conference finals against Colorado. It was also his second OT goal in the playoffs, first since 1999 against the Avalanche.

Yeah, and Ottawa, Nashville and Calgary won, too... what's the point?

Edmonton held on to beat Detroit, 4-2, to even their first-round series at one game apiece Sunday.Detroit is the # 1 Ranked team and Edmonton the # 8 Ranked team in the Western Conference of the NHL.

The #7 Chicago Bulls lost to the #2 Miami Heat yesterday...

Go Bulls!

FalconBlue wrote:DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Red Wings survived a scare because Kirk Maltby has been listening to his coaches.

Maltby scored his second goal of the night 2:39 into double overtime to lift Detroit to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their first-round series Friday.

He ended the 3 1/2-hour game with a long shot from outside the right circle that was deflected past goaltender Dwayne Roloson by the stick of Edmonton teammate Rem Murray.

"Our coaching staff has been harping on us to get the puck on the net because you never know what can happen," Maltby said. "My shot just clipped his stick, and more times than not, those are the kind of goals that win in OT."

Maltby made it 2-all with 6:17 left in regulation when he scored off a rebound on a goal that stood after a video review. He had just five goals this season after scoring 14 in each of the previous two.


"You need guys like Malts to win at playoff time - he competes," coach Mike Babcock said after coaching Detroit for the first time in the postseason.

Roloson made 54 saves.

"Unfortunately, they got a lucky bounce at the end of the game," Roloson said. "You can't fault our guys at all."

Manny Legace, who made just 23 saves for the Red Wings, said he felt a sense of relief.

"Especially when it goes to double overtime and the other goalie stands on his head," Legace said. "We got lucky."

Game 2 of the best-of-seven Western Conference series is Sunday in Detroit.

The Oilers had a chance to steal the game against the Stanley Cup favorites, but Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said his team has to quickly get over the disappointment.

"You can't carry that baggage long in postseason because that really debilitates you ability to bounce back," MacTavish said.

Three of the four regular-season meetings went to overtime with Detroit winning the lone game decided in regulation. The Red Wings won once in overtime, and the Oilers won a game in overtime and another in a shootout.

The Red Wings entered the playoffs with the best record in the NHL for the third time in four seasons, but they are coming off two straight early postseason exits.

Detroit got off to a good start, with Robert Lang scoring on the power play for a 1-0 lead 4:05 in, but Legace gave up goals on two of the first seven shots he faced.

Edmonton's Sergei Samsonov made it 1-all midway through the first period, and Chris Pronger's slap shot from just inside the middle of the blue line at 8:43 of the second gave the gritty Oilers the lead.

Maltby scored his first goal when he charged toward the net and got the middle of his stick on a rebound off Johan Franzen's shot. The sellout crowd erupted when the red lamp was lit, and did again following a review.

The fans booed just as loudly when Detroit's Brendan Shanahan was called for roughing with 1:50 remaining in regulation, but they were happy again when Legace turned away the Oilers with about 15 seconds left.

"We had lots of opportunities to win the game ourselves," MacTavish said.

Roloson, acquired on March 7 from Minnesota, made 14 saves in the first period and 16 in the second before facing fewer shots in the third. He stopped 16 shots in the first OT.

The NHL journeyman gave Hockeytown a flashback to the outstanding goaltending the Red Wings faced when Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff and Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere helped their teams eliminate Detroit in the second and first rounds of the 2004 and 2003 playoffs, respectively. Those clubs both reached the Stanley Cup finals.

The Oilers haven't advanced in the playoffs since 1998, when Dallas eliminated Edmonton for the first of five straight postseason appearances, with the last one coming three years ago.

Detroit is the most experienced team in the playoffs with more than 1,500 combined games and 26 Stanley Cup rings while the current Oilers entered the postseason with 449 games of experience and no championships.

The Red Wings are in the postseason for the 15th straight season, the longest active streak in professional sports.

Notes: C Pavel Datsyuk, who led the Red Wings in scoring this season, missed the game as expected because of a left thigh injury. He said "maybe" when asked if he'll be ready for Game 2. ... Oilers LW Ethan Moreau (groin) was also scratched. ... Chris Chelios, Detroit's 44-year-old defenseman, has appeared in 21 postseasons, tying Ray Bourque's NHL record. ... Maltby had his second career two-goal game in the playoffs, and first since 1997 in the conference finals against Colorado. It was also his second OT goal in the playoffs, first since 1999 against the Avalanche.

I saw that Mike Emrick did the play by play during the game for NBC.He had a huge ring on his finger. Wasn't he inovlved with the BGSU NCAA champ team in 1984? I wonder if that was his champ ring????

ffejfalcon wrote: I saw that Mike Emrick did the play by play during the game for NBC.He had a huge ring on his finger. Wasn't he inovlved with the BGSU NCAA champ team in 1984? I wonder if that was his champ ring????

My guess is the ring is from the New Jersey Devils. He was their play-by-play guy in 1995.

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - The Detroit Red Wings scored three power-play goals, including Nicklas Lidstrom's game-winner on a two-man advantage in the third period, in a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

The win that evened the playoff series after four games had Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish livid with referees Marc Joannette and Dean Warren.

"It's a different standard with those two," MacTavish said. "It seems like you get credited for having the courage to call everything."

"Maybe (only) one stretch we were able to roll four lines in succession," MacTavish said. "That's not the way we wanted to play."

Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg also scored power-play goals and Robert Lang had a goal and two assists for Detroit, which hosts Game 5 on Saturday.


"It's down to the best two-out-of-three now," Red Wings forward Kirk Maltby said. "These guys are going to keep coming until the series is over."

There were 19 penalties called in the game.

"That's the way they have been calling it in other series as well," Lidstrom said.

Fernando Pisani and Jaroslav Spacek scored power-play goals for Edmonton before a loud sellout crowd of 16,829 at Rexall Place.

"We can't be complaining like that," Oilers forward Raffi Torres said. "We took stupid penalties today and it cost us the game."

Detroit, which earned the President's Trophy for the best regular season record, avenged two straight losses while playing without captain Steve Yzerman who was out with a back injury.

"I think we're getting there," Lidstrom said after scoring his first goal of the playoffs at 6:44 of the third period after the Oilers contended an illegal pick was set on Jarret Stoll.

"I thought it could have easily been called," said MacTavish, who later admitted the loss may not have been all the referees' fault. "We contributed to our own demise."

Mathieu Schneider had three assists for the Red Wings.

"We feel we're getting better as this series goes on," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "And we think we'll continue to get better."

Edmonton appeared to score the tying goal midway through the third period on a wraparound by Ryan Smyth, but a video review concluded a sprawling Manny Legace got his glove on the puck in time. The soft-spoken Legace thought the refereeing was nothing special.

"The first three games I thought they let a lot more go," said Legace, who finished with 24 saves. "But tonight was just like a normal regular-season game."

The Red Wings had seven power-play chances in the first two periods, but scored just once when Holmstrom crowded the crease for a tip-in on another 5-on-3.

Lang gave Detroit a 2-1 lead with 37 seconds left in the first period on a pinball goal that went in off the skate of Spacek.

Pisani scored the game's first goal from the right circle in the first period after Torres worked through two defenders to earn his first playoff assist.

Spacek tied the game 2-2 in the second with a one-timer off a cross-ice feed from Ales Hemsky for Edmonton's second goal on 10 shots.

Zetterberg backhanded the fourth goal in the third period with Hemsky off for tripping.

The Red Wings were 3-for-11 on the power play and outshot Edmonton 31-26 after losing 4-3 in double overtime on Tuesday night. There were 19 penalties called in Game 4.

Yzerman was a game-time scratch.

"He tried and he couldn't get going," Babcock said. "I think he'll be fine."

Notes: Rookie D Matt Greene took three penalties in his playoff debut for the Oilers in place of veteran DickTarnstrom (right hip injury). ... F Ethan Moreau also made his playoff debut for Edmonton, replacing Todd Harvey, who has an upper body injury. ... Fans started throwing debris on the ice in the third period, eliciting a plea from the public address announcer.

Other games on April 27, 2006

Redwings are GONE

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - The Edmonton Oilers sent home the NHL's best team in the regular season, rallying Monday night to beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 and win the first-round playoff series in six games.

Ales Hemsky scored twice, including the winner with 1:06 left in regulation time, capping a comeback from a 2-0 deficit after two periods. It was Edmonton's first playoff series win since 1998 - and another huge early-round disappointment for Detroit.

Fernando Pisani also scored twice for the Oilers.

Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg and Robert Lang scored for the Red Wings.

The Oilers tied it 3-3 on a power play, when the puck deflected off Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff to Hemsky at the side of the net. He whacked away at the puck, then Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom pushed Hemsky into the net. The puck went in, too, and the play went under video review to determine if the puck was kicked in.


After a lengthy delay, officials eventually awarded Hemsky the goal with 3:53 remaining.

Franzen flicked in a rebound at 10:07 of the third period to put the Red Wings ahead 3-2. Pisani had tied it 2-2 when he deked goalie Manny Legace and scored with a shot through the left side at 6:40 of the third.

Pisani's power-play goal 2:56 into the third period brought the Oilers within 2-1.

The Red Wings controlled the second period, outshooting the Oilers 17-2. Steve Yzerman set up Lang's power-play goal to make it 2-0. Red Wings captain Yzerman sat out the previous two games with a nagging back injury.

Yzerman's point moved him ahead of Bryan Trottier into eighth spot with 185 career playoff points.

Zetterberg got the Red Wings a 1-0 lead late in the first period, when the Oilers outshot Detroit 15-10. The forward scored on Dwayne Roloson six times this series.

The Red Wings have lost in the first or second round of the last three playoffs.

Notes: The Oilers' last postseason victory was in seven games over Colorado ... Detroit finished the season with 124 points, 11 more than any other team. Edmonton had 95 ... The top two seeds in the Western Conference are now eliminated; Dallas previously fell to Colorado ... Hemsky had a game-high six shots on goal.