Sharks 2, Red Wings 1 (OT)
Benn Ferriero made his 24th birthday a memorable one, scoring at 7:03 of overtime in his playoff debut to give the second-seeded San Jose Sharks a 2-1 home victory over the third-seeded Detroit Red Wings in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series Friday.
Joe Pavelski also tallied, defenseman Dan Boyle notched two assists and Antti Niemi made 24 saves for the Sharks, who host Game 2 on Sunday afternoon.
Less than a minute after a four-minute power play for San Jose expired, Ferriero grabbed a loose puck along the left-wing boards and fired it toward the net from the faceoff circle. The puck deflected off a defender's stick and past Jimmy Howard, giving the Sharks the early edge in the series.
Captain Nicklas Lidstrom scored and Howard stopped 44 shots for the Red Wings, who fell to 39-51 in overtime in the postseason.
With Johan Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg back in the lineup, Detroit showed no rust following an eight-day layoff as it took the lead midway through the first period. Selke Trophy finalist Pavel Datsyuk made a backhand pass from along the left-wing boards to Lidstrom, who one-timed the puck past Niemi from the slot for his 51st career playoff goal.
The Sharks controlled the majority of the second period, outshooting the Red Wings by an 18-9 margin, but were unable to get the equalizer by Howard. Their persistency paid off in the third, however, as they cashed in on a power-play opportunity to pull even.
Captain Joe Thornton unleashed a shot from above the slot that Howard stopped. But Pavelski got around defenseman Niklas Kronwall in the right faceoff circle and batted the rebound out of mid-air and into the net at 10:22 for his fourth tally this postseason.