Blues lose Pronger and game; Red Wings take 3-1 series lead

ST. LOUIS -- Dominik Hasek rebounded from a lopsided loss as the Detroit Red Wings took command of their second-round Western Conference playoff series with a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.

The Red Wings, who have a 3-1 series lead, can wrap the series up Saturday in Detroit.

The Blues' chances for the game -- and now, the series -- took a devastating hit when defenseman and captain Chris Pronger sustained a torn right knee ligament midway through the first period. Pronger, who has been averaging more than 30 minutes a game, is out for the rest of the season.

Hasek was yanked in Game 3 after giving up five goals on 16 shots in a 6-1 loss. The Blues tried to keep up the pressure again Thursday with a 10-0 shots advantage in the first five minutes. That included a power-play goal by Scott Young, the Blues' third with the man advantage the last two games after going 0-for-9 the first two games.

Pronger was hurt at 10:20 of the first period during an extended confrontation with Detroit's Steve Yzerman, toppling over him and landing awkwardly and then taking a frustration cross-checking penalty before limping to the dressing room instead of the penalty box.

After that -- until a frantic finish -- it was all Red Wings.

Brendan Shanahan, Jiri Fischer and Sergei Fedorov each scored their first goal of the series for Detroit, which led 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 after two while the Blues managed only seven shots in a 35-minute span. Yzerman added a third-period power-play goal for a 4-1 lead off a giveaway by goalie Brent Johnson, who cleared the puck right to him at 3:03.

The Red Wings negated the Blues' No. 1 line of Keith Tkachuk, Pavol Demitra and Scott Mellanby in the early going. They also scored both of their first-period goals against that line, which has 14 goals and 14 assists in the postseason and got a hat trick from Tkachuk in Game 3.

But the Blues threw in a late scare with goals by Mellanby and Tkachuk in the final 2:54, both with the goalie pulled.

Mellanby scored his seventh goal of the playoffs with 2:54 to go on a power play that became a two-man advantage after Johnson was pulled, cutting the gap to two goals. The goal wasn't allowed until the first stoppage in play, which came when Mellanby put the puck in net again with 2:33 to go, but the clock was re-set to the time of the first goal.

Tkachuk made it 4-3 with 1:30 to go. But the Blues got off only one shot the rest of the way, a slap shot from center ice by Al MacInnis with five second to go that Hasek stopped.

The Red Wings contributed to the Blues' fast start with three penalties in the first five minutes, and St. Louis scored first for the second straight game in the series on Young's third goal of the playoffs at 4:24 during a 5-on-3 advantage. Young converted a one-timer from Pronger on the fourth shot of the power play.

Detroit finally got its first shot, by Shanahan, at the six-minute mark. Then Shanahan scored his second goal of the playoffs as the trailer on a break with Darren McCarty at 13:33 to tie it, getting behind the Blues' defense and converting a backhand feed from behind the net.

The Red Wings took the lead when Fischer threaded a shot from the point through a crowd in front of the net at 16:05. Johnson took a stick to the mask as the puck sailed by him.

Holmstrom made it a two-goal lead at 2:35 of the second, scoring on the Red Wings' first shot of the period. Johnson vacated the crease to confront Mathieu Dandenault on a rush and Holmstrom had an empty net after taking a cross-ice pass.

Notes: The Red Wings scored for the first time in the playoffs after giving up the game's first goal. ... Red Wings second-line C Igor Larionov was scratched with a leg injury that forced him out of the third period of Game 3. Larionov, who has two goals and three assists in the playoffs, was replaced by C Jason Williams, who played in his fifth game. ... Yzerman also had an assist on Detroit's second goal, giving him 164 points in 164 career playoff games. ... The last time a team won a game by five or more goals and didn't win the series was 1997, when Colorado beat Detroit 6-0 in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals but lost the series in seven games.