DETROIT — Johan Franzen had a natural hat trick in a 3:26 span of the first period, scored a fourth goal in the third, and set a Red Wings playoff record with six points as Detroit stayed alive with a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Franzen was originally credited with scoring the first goal 5:40 into the game, but a scoring change gave the goal to Todd Bertuzzi. That prevented Franzen from tying the NHL playoff record of four goals in a period.
Valtteri Filppula put Detroit ahead 5-0 late in the first period on a shot that went off San Jose defenseman Douglas Murray and effectively ended goalie Evgeni Nabokov’s night.
“Maybe this spanking will wake us up to know we’re not out of the woods,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said.
Jimmy Howard was solid in goal for Detroit, making 28 saves, after three straight shaky performances.
Canadiens 3, Penguins 2
MONTREAL — Maxim Lapierre and Brian Gionta scored 1:33 apart early in the third period as Montreal tied the Eastern Conference series at 2-2.
Jaroslav Halak stopped 33 shots, and Tom Pyatt also scored for Montreal, which trailed 2-1 through the first two periods.
Lapierre drew Montreal even at 2 with a wraparound goal 2:20 into the third period. Silenced for nearly two full periods, the crowd roared back to life after Lapierre swung around behind the net and whipped the puck off the back off Marc-Andre Fleury’s right pad for the tying goal.
The fans had even more to cheer about at 3:40 when Gionta got credit for his fifth goal after his centering pass went in off Penguins defenseman Kris Letang’s skate.
“We’re not supposed to be here,” Canadiens left wing Michael Cammalleri said. “If we would say, ‘Let’s take two out of three going into Pittsburgh on Saturday,’ I’d say, ‘Why not?’ “
