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Red Wings putting up a fight
Hold off Sharks comeback
By
Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa Sun
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  San Jose Sharks' Antti Niemi stops Detroit Red Wings' Kris Draper during the first period of Game 4. (REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)
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The Red Wings are fighting for their lives.
Down 3-0 in the Western semi-final the San Jose Sharks, Detroit came out with a strong effort in the first period and hold a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes at the Joe Louis Arena.
Nick Lidstrom has scored two and Todd Bertuzzi have scored for the Wings. Logan Couture responded for the Sharks at 18:18 with a puck that appeared to just go through Jimmy Howard.
Lidstrom scored his second goal on the powerplay at 18:01 and his first when he fired a bullet by Antti Niemi from the circle on the stick side. That came after Niemi served up a huge rebound at 11:09.
The Sharks are being badly outplayed and need to find their game quickly.
Bertuzzi opened the scoring at 6:22 with a backhander. He did a spinarama in the Detroit zone, turned and fired a shot that appeared to bounce off of Sharks’ defenceman Doug Murray by Antti Niemi.
The Sharks have never swept a playoff series in their franchise history. All the Wings can hope is they’ll be able to force a Game 5 Sunday at HP Pavilion.
