Game 2 of the Western Conference quarterfinals between Detroit and Nashville ended the same way as Game 1, with a Red Wings win, but Nashville didn’t go down without a fight. The Red Wings took advantage of all their breaks to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Nashville took control of the first period, but Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek stopped everything fired his way. Hasek faced 15 first period shots helping the Wings to a 1-0 intermission lead.

With Nashville in control, Detroit took advantage of a Dan Ellis rebound when Darren McCarty knocked in the puck past a sliding Ellis. Dallas Drake took a pass from Mark Hartigan and skated down the far boards; he threw the puck on net which bounced off Ellis right to McCarty coming down the slot. McCarty’s goal was his first postseason goal since 2006.

Nashville’s J.P. Dumont came close to tying it up when he received a pass from behind the net and had a wide open lane to Hasek, but he fired his shot right into the chest of Hasek. Detroit came close to going up 2-0 late in the first when Valtteri Filppula received a cross ice feed and had Ellis beat, but his shot hit off the outside of the net.

Detroit’s Chris Chelios left briefly in the first period with what appeared to be a lower body injury, but he returned later in the period. Jordin Tootoo got into several first period altercations which made him a marked man by Detroit.

The Red Wings came for the second period determined to make a statement and that’s exactly what happened. Nashville took a too many men on the ice penalty with 45 seconds left in the first and that proved to be costly. With Tomas Holmstrom screening Ellis, Nicklas Lidstrom fired a shot from the blue line past Ellis only 39 seconds into the period.

Nashville wouldn’t quit and kept coming. Hasek took a holding the stick penalty 1:31 into the period, and Nashville capitalized on the opportunity with an Alexander Radulov goal. The Predators came back 11 seconds later when Jordin Tootoo put the puck past Hasek to tie the game at two.

Kris Draper put the Wings back in the lead scoring his first goal of the postseason. Detroit allowed only four Nashville shots over the final 15 minutes of the period. After taking the lead, Detroit went into the shutdown defense that allowed the fewest shots during the regular season.

Detroit went into the third period looking to close out the Predators after having a regular season record of 36-3-1 when leading after two periods. Detroit took control of the third and sealed the victory with a Tomas Holmstrom goal with 9:57 remaining.

The series now shifts to Nashville for games three and four. Game 3 is Monday night at the Sommet Center. Hopefully, the Predators will benefit from the change of venue, but it might already be too late to get back into the series.