Kiprusoff Shaky as the Red Wings Take Game One

The Detroit Red Wings took advantage of a shaky Miikka Kiprusoff, who let in 4 goals, including some softies, to take Game One of their first round series by a 4-1 score.

With the Wings reducing the tempo of the first period to something akin to a documentary on 17th century bread baking, Nick Lidstrom deflated the Flames with a flukey goal that put the Wings up 2-0 just 8 minutes into the first stanza. Lidstrom's shot was going wide, but hit Flames defenseman Brad Stuart and deflected past a stunned Kiprusoff.

With the game 4-0 after two periods, the tempo picked up considerably in the 3rd period as the Flames pressed and the teams traded more shots than in the first two periods combined. All was for naught as the Flames could only settle for one lone goal: Alex Tanguay scoring on the Power Play to break Hasek's shutout.

The key to the Flames pulling off an upset will be Kiprusoff's play, and he'll have do a lot better than he did in Game One. Flukey deflections or not, "Kipper" did not match Hasek save for save and it put the Flames in a hole they could never escape from.

Pavel Datsyuk finally answered the critics with his first goal in 26 playoff games, and also added an assist as he played an exceptionally strong game. With the departures of Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan, Datsyuk needs to step up and become an offensive leader.

Also notable was the fact that Chris Chelios played in his 22nd post-season, breaking the record previously held by Ray Bourque. Datsyuk was only five years old when Chelios played his first playoff game.