Red Wings 4, Coyotes 2
Defenseman Ruslan Salei and Drew Miller scored less than three minutes into the game and the third-seeded Detroit Red Wings also tallied early in each of the last two periods en route to a 4-2 road triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday.
With the triumph, the Red Wings seized a commanding 3-0 lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen also tallied, blue-liner Niklas Kronwall notched a pair of assists and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for Detroit, which extended its playoff winning streak when scoring at least four goals to 56 games.
Defenseman David Schlemko and Ray Whitney scored power-play goals and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 30 shots for the Coyotes, who will try to avoid being swept when they host Game 4 on Wednesday.
The Red Wings had the Coyotes scrambling early and took a 2-0 lead with goals 44 seconds apart. Salei opened the scoring at 1:57 of the first period with a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle and Miller doubled the advantage when Kronwall's shot from the right point deflected off him and past Bryzgalov.
Filppula made it 3-0 at 2:50 of the second, beating Bryzgalov from the left circle for his 16th career playoff goal.
Phoenix got on the board midway through the session as Schlemko put a shot from the bottom of the left circle under the crossbar. But Franzen restored Detroit's three-goal cushion by converting a breakaway 45 seconds into the third.