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Preds' power play finally clicks
By
Rob Longley, QMI Agency
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  Nashville Predators' defenceman Shea Weber celebrates his goal against the Detroit Red Wings with teammates Alexander Radulov and David Legwand. (Rebecca Cook/REUTERS)
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DETROIT - When you have the league's top power play, sometimes you need to be lucky as well as good.
And the way Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock saw it, that's exactly what happened on the Nashville Predators' big opening goal Sunday afternoon.
To backtrack, the Wings had shut down the Preds top-ranked unit in the first two games despite having 12 chances. But that ended at 2:48 of the first period in Game 3, when defenceman Shea Weber snuck in from the point to bury a rebound past Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard.
"It was a tough break when (Pavel Datsyuk) broke his stick on the penalty kill giving up a goal there," Babcock said. "(If he didn't break his stick) Pav would have just cleared the rebound."
Veteran Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg figured it was just a matter of time before the Preds PP would connect, given all the chances they were given.
"In the regular season, we're not really that kind of team," Zetterberg said. "All of a sudden, in the playoffs we get a lot of penalties. Our PK has been good, but we knew it wouldn't last forever. If you keep giving them chances, they will eventually score."
