The Fifth Liners

I don't know if ducks can technically sink but writing catchy headlines is tough. Anyway. After twice being behind in the series, those plucky Detroit Red Wings have managed to bring it back twice to equalize and forced the Anaheim Ducks into a final game decider. Detroit Captain (and beard idol) Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring early in the first period, and goals from Justin Abdelkader and Valtteri Filppula sealed the victory. It wasn't all plain sailing though as Emerson Etem and Francois Beauchemin scored for the Ducks but it wasn't enough to top the Red Wings who now make the 300 mile journey to Illinois for the semi finals where they will meet conference champs the Chicago Blackhawks . Detroit made things difficult, giving Anaheim more powerplays than necessary. Zetterberg took the final powerplay of the game after launching the puck over the glass and receiving an Delay of Play penalty for his troubles. This allowed the Ducks the opportunity to ...

Detroit Red Wings will be without key player Justin Abdelkader after he was handed a 2 game ban after charging down Anaheim Ducks ' defenseman Toni Lydman . In a situation which nobody is calling 'Abdelkadergate', there is a lot of controversy about this decision. Coach Mike Babcock reckons it was a perfectly clean hit but VP of Hockey Operations and Player Safety  Brendan Shanahan thinks the hit was illegal and that the offence of charging was committed.  Either way, Akdelkader will sit out the next two games which, depending on how the results go, this could well be the end of his season.