Zetterberg nets two as Wings' dominance puts Jackets' season on brink

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Game Information

Arena: Nationwide Arena Location: Columbus, Ohio

Referees: Brad Meier, Bill McCreary Linesmen: Steve Miller, Mark Shewchyk

Attendance: 19,219 (106.0% full)

POSTSEASON Team Stat Comparison
76	Goals	7
48	Goals Against	18
23	Power Play Goals	3
19	Power Play Goals Allowed	7
1	Shorthanded Goals	0
1	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	0
226	Penalty Minutes	60
10	Average Penalty Minutes	15

Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD			DET	CLS
1:07		Tomas Holmstrom Assists: Marian Hossa	1	0
19:14		Daniel Cleary Assists: Johan Franzen, Brian Rafalski	2	0
2ND PERIOD			DET	CLS
13:55		Henrik Zetterberg Assists: Daniel Cleary, Johan Franzen	3	0
3RD PERIOD			DET	CLS
16:07		R.J. Umberger (Power Play) Assists: Rick Nash, Jason Williams	3	1
19:29		Henrik Zetterberg (Empty net) Assists: Daniel Cleary	4	1

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Forget all that talk about a playoff series being a long haul. It's been a sprint so far for the Detroit Red Wings, and they are drawing close to the finish line of their first-round series with Columbus.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog

Check out the latest updates and analysis from the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs as our NHL crew weighs in:
• 2009 Playoffs blog

Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals and the reigning Stanley Cup champions dominated from beginning to end Tuesday night to beat the Blue Jackets 4-1 and grab a 3-0 lead.

"Everyone talks about a best-of-seven. Really, it's a race to four" coach Mike Babcock said. "You want to get to four as fast as you can."

Fast Facts

• For the third time in their last four playoff series, the Red Wings jumped to a 3-0 series lead. The Red Wings have now won 42 straight playoff games in which they have scored at least four goals.

• Dan Cleary, who had just three points in 22 playoff games last season, matched that total with a goal and an assist for the Red Wings. Tomas Holmstrom and Cleary became the eighth and ninth different goal scorers in this series (the Red Wings have scored 12 goals in the series).

• R.J. Umberger scored the lone goal for the Jackets. He has scored both goals for Columbus in this series. The two goals through their first three playoff games is the fewest in the first three playoff games in team history among the current NHL franchises.

• Columbus lost its first home playoff game in team history.

-- ESPN Stats & Information

The first NHL playoff game at Nationwide Arena -- in the Blue Jackets' 659th game -- was a mammoth letdown for a franchise-record crowd of 19,219.

"It was an exciting game for the first playoff game in this building," said Zetterberg, whose empty-netter gave him 30 goals and 25 assists in his 64 playoff appearances. "The fans were excited. We tried to defeat that, too."

Daniel Cleary had a goal and two assists, Tomas Holmstrom scored 1:07 in for an early lift and Johan Franzen added two assists. The Red Wings can advance to the conference semifinals with a win Thursday night.

Almost no one is surprised. The Red Wings are an experienced, confident bunch who have barely allowed a younger team stocked with playoff rookies to breathe.

"There's something about experience," Babcock said. "In life, when you don't have it, you think it's overrated. When you have it, it's obviously very, very important."

Chris Osgood's shutout streak of 144 minutes, 27 seconds ended with 3:53 left when R.J. Umberger scored on a backhander off a rebound of Rick Nash's drive. The goal was almost identical to the only other score the Blue Jackets have in the series, when Umberger scored late in the second period of Game 1.

"We've been there, we know how difficult it is. Each game is a separate moment," Osgood said of the playoffs. "We played real well the first 10 minutes. We pressed them and got the early goal, which helped us a ton."

Osgood, who finished with 31 saves, stopped Kristian Huselius on two prime scoring chances within a minute in the first period, each of which would have tied it.

Since an embarrassing 8-2 home loss -- with Osgood in goal -- on March 7, the Red Wings have won the last four meetings with the Blue Jackets by a combined score of 16-2.

Rookie goaltender Steve Mason had 22 saves for Columbus.

"With the amount of skill [the Red Wings] have, they're going to put the puck in the net," he said.

The last four times the Red Wings hit the road leading a first-round series 2-0, they lost. Not this time. Not even close.

A standing-room-only crowd roared at the start but the Red Wings got on the board quickly. Holmstrom skated down the left wing and fired a 50-foot shot that Mason deflected. The puck went to Marian Hossa at the right dot, who gained control of it before backhanding a high shot that skipped past Mason off the crossbar and along the goal line. Holmstrom was there to jam in the rebound.

After Detroit took eight of the first 11 shots with Columbus looking hesitant and jittery, the Blue Jackets had the next eight shots on Osgood.

But with less than a minute left in the first period, Franzen's shot from the right wing smacked into defenseman Mike Commodore and Cleary in the crease. Cleary collected the puck, spun and whipped a shot past Mason.

"We've played three games, we've had three great starts. And had nothing to show for it," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We've gotten discouraged because of that and it's affected our game."

A weird sequence led to the Red Wings' third goal. Commodore tried to check Cleary but missed, flipping over the short boards and onto the Detroit bench. Moments later, he made contact with Franzen, decking him behind the Columbus goal. But then he added another shot and was whistled for a delayed penalty. The Wings didn't stop skating, however, and Cleary tossed a centering pass to Zetterberg between the circles and his hard shot made it 3-0.

Now the Blue Jackets have their backs to the wall.

"We're in a sudden-death situation," Hitchcock said. "And I know what we're up against. We're up against a real good team."

Game notes
A video pregame show featured references to famous upsets in sports with the tag line, "What if there were no underdogs?" ... Umberger was leveled on an open-ice check by Brad Stuart. Woozy for a couple of minutes on the ice, he was able to return. ... The Wings roster has a total of 40 Stanley Cup rings; the Blue Jackets have a combined four. ... A Detroit fan tossed an octopus on the ice with a minute left and was ejected.