What bettors need to know: Red Wings at Blackhawks
By ARI BAUM-COHEN
Detroit Red Wings at Chicago Blackhawks (-115, 5.5)
Injury report
Both sides are dealing with key injuries.
Hart Trophy finalist Pavel Datsyuk missed Game 3 with a foot injury and is day-to-day for Game 4. Kris Draper is also day-to-day after suffering a pulled groin Friday.
Martin Havlat left Game 3 after a Niklas Kronwall body check. Havlat’s condition improved after the game and coach Joel Quenneville thinks Havlat may be able to play in Game 4.
Nikolai Khabibulin left Game 3 after sustaining a lower body injury and did not return. His status is unknown for Game 4. Cristobal Huet played well in his absence, stopping all six shots he faced.
The Rivalry is back
Though the Red Wings and Hawks have yet to drop the gloves in their nine meetings this year, there was plenty of animosity between the teams Friday night.
Niklas Kronwall received a five-minute major penalty for his crushing body check on Martin Havlat, though neither referee made a penalty call at the time of the hit. According to Wings coach Mike Babcock, the penalty was “absolutely the wrong call.” Quenneville disagreed, saying: “it’s a dangerous hit when you haven’t touched the puck.”
Mental toughness
No lead is safe against the defending champs and the Wings showed how dangerous the can be coming back from a 3-0 deficit in a span of four minutes and 23 seconds.
What was most surprising was how the young Hawks responded in the third period.
"A lot of teams probably would have gone the other way after giving up a three-goal lead, but we stayed with it," Hawks forward Patrick Sharp told reporters. "After they scored the third one, we played some of our best hockey. When we needed to play our best period of the season we did.”
Special teams
Both teams continue to play well with the man-advantage, averaging over 25 percent.
Detroit continues to struggle on the penalty kill, having given up at least one power-play goal in a team-record twelve straight games.
Chicago has averaged 4.5 power plays in the last two games after only having one in Game 1.
Star watch
Pavel Datsyuk: 0 goals, 2 assists, +1 (missed game 2)
Henrik Zetterberg: 1 goal, 1 assist, +3
Jonathan Toews: 2 goals, 0 assists, -2
Patrick Kane: 0 goals, 0 assists, -5
Other trends
- Blackhawks are 7-1 in their last eight home games
- Red Wings are 5-2 in their last seven vs. a team with a winning record
- Red Wings are 2-7 in last nine road games against a team with a winning percentage greater than .600.
- Home team is 4-0 in last four meetings
- Over is 4-1 last four meetings in Chicago
Hockey Today
SCOREBOARD
Sunday, May 24
Detroit at Chicago (3 p.m. EDT). Chicago beat Detroit 4-3 on Patrick Sharp’s(notes) overtime goal Friday night to cut the defending champion Red Wings’ lead to 2-1 in the Western Conference finals.
STAR
Friday
— Patrick Sharp, Blackhawks, scored at 1:52 of overtime to give Chicago a 4-3 victory over Detroit. Sharp also had a power-play goal in the first period to help the Blackhawks cut Detroit’s lead to 2-1 in the Western Conference finals.
SACKED
Mike Keenan was fired as coach of the Calgary Flames on Friday, almost a month after his team lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year. Keenan spent just two seasons with Calgary. He’s fourth on the career list with 672 victories, also coaching Philadelphia, Chicago, the New York Rangers, St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston and Florida. He led the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup title.
SIGNED
The Minnesota Wild hired Chuck Fletcher on Friday as the second general manager in franchise history. The former Pittsburgh assistant general manager replaced Doug Risebrough, fired in April after building the expansion team from the ground up. The 41-year-old Fletcher is the son of Hall of Fame GM Cliff Fletcher.
STATUS
Detroit star Pavel Datsyuk(notes) missed the Red Wings’ 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Friday night because of a sore foot. The center and MVP finalist was hit with a puck Tuesday night in Game 2.
SCOUTING
Adam Henrique scored at 4:41 of overtime to give the Windsor Spitfires a 3-2 victory over Drummondville on Friday night in the Memorial Cup semifinal in Rimouski, Quebec. Windsor will face Kelowna on Sunday in the final. The Spitfires have won three straight after dropping their first two games in the four-team tournament.
SPEAKING
“A lot of teams probably would have gone the other way after giving up a three-goal lead, but we stayed with it. After they scored the third one, we played some of our best hockey. When we needed to play our best period of the season we did and carried it into overtime.”—Chicago’s Patrick Sharp after scoring in overtime in the Blackhawks’ 4-3 victory over Detroit on Friday night in the Western Conference finals.
Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Patrick Sharp scored his second of the game at 1:52 of overtime to give the Hawks a 4-3 win over the Red Wings in Game 3 on Friday, and they now trail the series 2-1.
The Blackhawks won that game as -130 favorites, while the seven goals made it OVER the posted over/under (5.5).
Andrew Ladd and Samuel Pahlsson also scored for the Hawks. Dave Bolland pocketed two assists in the victory.
Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, and Jonathan Ericsson scored for the Red Wings, who were +110 underdogs in the contest.
Team records:
Detroit: 51-21-10
Chicago: 46-24-12
Detroit most recently:
When playing on Sunday are 5-5
Before playing Edmonton are 6-4
After playing Chicago are 8-2
After a loss are 5-5
Chicago most recently:
When playing on Sunday are 1-9
Before playing Edmonton are 7-3
After playing Detroit are 6-4
After a win are 6-4
A few trends to consider:
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Detroit's last 5 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Detroit is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games
Detroit is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games when playing Chicago
Detroit is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games on the road
Chicago is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Chicago's last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Chicago's last 5 games when playing at home against Detroit
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Chicago's last 13 games at home
Next up:
Chicago at Detroit, Wednesday, May 27
Western Conference Finals
Detroit at Chicago
Detroit:
1-5 SU off division loss by 1 goal
3-8 SU Away as a #2 seed
Chicago:
24-8 SU as a home favorite of -200 or less
8-1 SU off BB division games
DETROIT vs. CHICAGO
Detroit is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games when playing Chicago
Detroit is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Chicago is 15-7 SU in its last 22 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Chicago's last 5 games
DETROIT (61-23-0-12, 134 pts.) at CHICAGO (55-30-0-12, 122 pts.)
Top Trends for this game.
CHICAGO is 26-13 ATS (+39.8 Units) after scoring 4 goals or more in their previous game this season.
CHICAGO is 50-43 ATS (+5.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
CHICAGO is 11-16 ATS (-17.2 Units) vs. division opponents this season.
Head-to-Head Series History
DETROIT is 16-9-0 straight up against CHICAGO over the last 3 seasons
12 of 21 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+2.6 Units)