Anaheim, CA – Nick Bonino buried the game winner 1:54 into overtime, as the Anaheim Ducks downed the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2, in Game 5 of this Western Conference quarterfinal series from Honda Center.
Ben Lovejoy set up Bonino's deciding goal, as the Anaheim defenseman carried the puck below the Detroit goal line and worked around a defender before sliding a backhand pass through the crease to the low left side, where Bonino pounded in a one-timer to give Anaheim a 3-2 series lead.
"He's a heck of a competitor," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said of Bonino. "I'm happy it was our turn tonight to win in overtime. Nick was in the right spot at the right time."
Ryan Getzlaf and Kyle Palmieri each scored once in regulation, while Jonas Hiller posted 29 saves for the Ducks, who will look to wrap up the series in Detroit on Friday.
"This is huge. You dream about it as a kid," Bonino said. "Hiller was awesome and the guys responded well all night."
Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen registered a goal apiece in the setback, with Jimmy Howard stopping 31-of-34 shots for Detroit, which had won the previous two overtime games in this series.
"We hit three posts tonight and they didn't go in," Detroit coach Mike Babcock lamented. "That's life."
Detroit struck first while on the power play just under 5 1/2 minutes in when Franzen threw a centering feed in front from behind the net that deflected off the skate of Ducks defenseman Sheldon Souray and slipped past Hiller to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.
Anaheim found the equalizer late in the opening stanza, as the Ducks won an offensive zone faceoff and Palmieri recovered the puck in the high slot before wheeling around a rifling a shot past Howard to tie the game with 2:19 left.
The Red Wings again pulled in front just past the midpoint of the second when Henrik Zetterberg's shot from above the left circle was kicked away by Hiller, but Samuelsson was there to bury the long rebound for a 2-1 lead at 10:08.
Anaheim answered with another late goal, as Getzlaf skated into the Detroit zone and ripped a wrister from between the circles that sailed high over the blocker side of Howard to knot the game with 31.8 ticks left in the frame.
The Ducks appeared to take the lead eight minutes into the third when Palmieri crashed the net and forced the puck under the pads of Howard, but the goal was immediately waved off, as the referees ruled Palmieri pushed Howard across the goal line with the puck.
Other than that, neither netminder was tested much in the third, with Howard stopping six shots and Hiller turning away five to force overtime.
Game Notes
This is the sixth playoff meeting between the Red Wings and Ducks, who met five times in the postseason from 1997-2009. Detroit has won three of the five series and beat Anaheim in seven games when the clubs last met in the 2009 conference semifinals ... Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader served the final part of his two-game suspension for his high hit on Ducks defenseman Toni Lydman in Game 3 ... Both teams finished 1-for-3 on the power play ...Bonino's goal was his third of the series ... The Red Wings were eliminated in the first round of the playoff last season in five games by Nashville.
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