DET vs NAS

DETROIT – It wasn’t advertised as such, but Saturday turned out to be Golden Oldies Day for Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.

On the same day that 46 year-old Chris Chelios became the leader in NHL playoff games, the goal-scorers for the Red Wings in their 4-2 win over Nashville were as follows: Darren McCarty, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kris Draper and Tomas Holmstrom.

And let’s not forget 43 year-old Dominik Hasek, who earned the victory by flashing yesteryear’s form.

It was the kind of scoresheet that could have just as easily come from seasons ago, but its timeliness allowed the Red Wings to grab a commanding 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final.

The series shifts to Nashville for games on Monday and Wednesday.

"It’s a tough battle for us now, no question," Predators captain Jason Arnott said. "We just have to stay positive, keep going forward. We’re going back home and we know the fans will be loud for us."

McCarty’s goal capped quite a story for the rugged forward. He wasn’t on an NHL roster to begin this season, but began a comeback attempt in the International Hockey League, advanced to the American Hockey League and was finally called up by Detroit just before the end of the regular season.

He scored Detroit’s first goal on Saturday just 2:26 into the contest, knocking home the rebound of Dallas Drake’s miss.

"You can't help for cheer for people that are trying to get their life back on track, especially with a guy like that has worked so hard and is one of the favourite sons in Detroit," Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

Chelios, meanwhile, played in his 248th playoff contest, snapping a tie with former goaltending great Patrick Roy in that department.

"I never really kept track of the individual things I've done. I've always been prouder of the team accomplishments,’ Chelios said. "But it's great and my kids and family thinks it’s pretty cool.’’

One on one:
Detroit again won the battle of top lines on Saturday, as the trio of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom produced a goal and two assists in the victory. Nashville’s two top scorers during the regular season - Jason Arnott and J.P. Dumont - did create more chances than they did in Thursday’s loss, but wound up collecting more penalties (three) than they did shots on goal (two).

Poile furious:
Predators general manager David Poile was furious that referee Dan Marouelli waved off what might have been an early goal by Nashville’s Alexander Radulov.

Radulov knocked his own rebound past Dominik Hasek, and the puck appeared to cross the goal-line before Nashville’s Radek Bonk knocked the net off its moorings.

But Marouelli ruled that he blew the play dead before the incident took place, which eliminated the possibility of going to replay.

"I think everybody in the building knows it was a goal - the supervisor (of officials), NBC, everyone knows it was a goal,’’ Poile said. "In looking at the replay with the audio, the whistle had not blown before the puck was in the net. The net was not off the moorings. I have no idea why he would say he blew the whistle because he hadn’t.’’

Hordichuk gets call:
With centre Scott Nichol out of the lineup with a broken thumb, the Predators turned to physical forward Darcy Hordichuk instead of going with seven defencemen.

Hordichuk saw 2:14 ice time.

Predators coach Barry Trotz said center David Legwand, who has now missed 14 straight games with a bone bruise on his foot, is questionable for Game Three on Monday.