NEW YORK, 26 April 2004 — Steve Yzerman scored a pair of goals to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a convincing 5-2 home win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday to level their Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece.
Yzerman now has 70 playoff goals and 181 points in his 20 years with the Red Wings, both franchise records.
Detroit out-shot the Flames 32-16 and took advantage of two five-on-three power play opportunities to score a pair of goals in the third period. After a scoreless first period, Tomas Holmstrom scored on the power play at 3:02 of the second and that ignited the Detroit offense as the Wings added a pair of goals from Yzerman 2:13 apart later in the period to make it 3-0.
Shean Donovan got Calgary on the scoreboard before the period ended, but 5-on-3 goals by Brett Hull and Nicklas Lidstrom put the Wings ahead by four. Martin Gelinas completed the scoring with 1:10 to play in the game on an unassisted goal.
Meanwhile, Evgeni Nabokov made 20 saves and Patrick Marleau scored his NHL leading seventh goal of the playoffs to spark the San Jose Sharks to a 4-1 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche and a 2-0 lead in their semifinal playoff series on Saturday.
Jonathan Cheechoo, Vincent Damphousse and Marleau all had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, while Wayne Primeau added an empty net goal to complete the scoring.
San Jose has never been to the Western Conference final, but the Sharks played their strong disciplined defensive game to perfection, frustrating Colorado’s high-powered offense.
