Final score: SJ 2 Det 3

Best-of-seven series tied 1-1.

Earlier this afternoon, the Red Wings got a huge Game Two win at home to even their second round series against the Sharks- fighting back from two goals down to pull out a hard fought 3-2 victory in front of frenzied fans at Joe Louis Arena.

Considering the way this one started, it was pretty unexpected and told you all you needed to know about this Detroit club’s resolve. Mike Babcock’s team came out flat and paid the price quickly on the scoreboard falling behind 2-0 4:17 in.

On the game’s opening shift, Joe Thornton setup San Jose’s first goal by dominating down low before feeding Kyle McLaren for a left point shot which deflected off Jonathan Cheechoo in front past Dominik Hasek just 36 seconds in before a stunned Joe. It was Cheechoo’s first of the postseason.

Ron Wilson’s team continued to aggressively attack and their hard work paid off when a Hasek giveaway led directly to a Thornton tally for a two-goal lead. Milan Michalek intercepted Hasek’s pass and fed the 2006 Hart winner for the tap-in which saw a Wing slam the puck against the boards in frustration. Who could blame him? It wasn’t the start their team needed.

You have to give Detroit full marks for never panicking. Between benches, NBC’s Pierre McGuire noted to commentators Doc Emrick and Ed Olczyk that the Wings didn’t use a timeout and that Pavel Datsyuk told his teammates ‘not to worry and just find their game.‘

They did. I couldn’t help but think those were the type of comments you’d expect from a superstar who just inked a big contract extension who now has even more responsibility. It would prove fitting later on.

Outplayed most of the first period, the Wings got a huge lift into the locker room when sniper Henrik Zetterberg scored with only 2:30 left in the stanza to slice the deficit in half. He was setup by who else but Datsyuk with Todd Bertuzzi netting the other assist.

It seemed to settle them down and restore confidence. The next 40 would prove that ultimately as after being outshot 9-3 in the first, they outshot their opponents 19-10 and carried the play.

Though they didn’t tie it in the second, it wasn’t from lack of chances as they forced Evgeni Nabokov to make some big saves. That was why they still trailed entering the final stanza.

They would keep plugging away early in the third even while shorthanded with key defensive forward Kris Draper in the box. It didn’t matter when Dan Cleary and Kirk Maltby stole a puck from San Jose allowing Cleary to wrist one by Nabokov for a huge shorthanded tally to tie it up only 1:23 in.

The Wings would kill off the penalty with a couple of big stops from Hasek in close. They would also be forced to kill off two more before the dramatic conclusion.

That would come off the stick of Datsyuk who got to a Mikael Samuelsson rebound and put home a backhand with 1:24 remaining. Zetterberg would get the other assist concluding a great day for his team and gave them plenty of life going to San Jose for Game Three.

For Datsyuk, that was goal No.4 of the postseason and with an assist, gave the Russian seven points. He’s his team’s best forward and will continue to need to be the man. Especially with Tomas Holmstrom nicked up.

Our three stars:

3rd star- Joe Thornton (goal, assist)

2nd star- Dan Cleary (SH goal)

1st star- Pavel Datsyuk (GW goal, assist)