Red Wings remedy: Get rolling in first

ANAHEIM -- The easy thing for the Detroit Red Wings would be to blame their 2-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals on an inadvertently blown whistle just before they score an apparent dramatic tying goal late in regulation.

Television replays of a loose puck sliding free along the goal line underneath a fallen Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller before Marian Hossa jammed it into the net with 1:04 remaining might give the Red Wings cause for remaining angry at referee Brad Watson, who blew the play dead.

But the lost opportunity at forcing overtime isn't the only reason why the defending Stanley Cup champions are facing a 2-1 deficit heading into Game 4 Thursday night at the Honda Center (10:30 p.m. ET, VERSUS, TSN, RDS). The Red Wings outshot Anaheim, 46-23, but didn't get their game going until the latter part of the second period.    

"I think we started a little slow and [were] waiting to see what was going to happen," Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg said. "We have to get it going a little bit better from the start. The further the game goes, the better we get."

Slow starts have plagued the Red Wings in the series. Anaheim's defense thoroughly shut down Detroit's vaunted puck-possession and transition game for the first half of Game 3 and goals by Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead.

Ironically, it was a long break in the action when Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski suffered a lung contusion from a shot taken by Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk that allowed the Red Wings to regroup.

Zetterberg scored his first goal of the series on an ensuing power play and the Red Wings tilted the ice in their favor, outshooting Anaheim, 35-10, over the last two periods. Jonas Hiller helped the Ducks survive the comeback by making 45 saves in another outstanding performance.

"We've got to come out like we did in the second and third," Detroit's Dan Cleary said. "You've got to come loose, fast and quick. Don't be sitting back on your heels. You've just got to play and get pucks behind their defense.

"They lost Wisniewski and we tried to wear them down as best as we could. We've just got to do better next game."

Wisniewski was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange County and remained there overnight as a precautionary measure. The rugged defenseman had trouble catching his breath after being hit by the shot and was bleeding from the mouth.

It was a sight that evoked some painful memories for Anaheim's Chris Pronger, who suffered an incident of heart arrhythmia when he was struck in the chest by a puck against Detroit in the 1998 playoffs while playing for St. Louis.

"You could see he was hurt," Pronger said. "He was trying to battle through it. It got to him there at the end and he just kind of went down on one knee and tried to catch his breath. It's a scary situation, having gone through it."

Hossa, a 40-goal scorer during the regular season, has yet to find the net against Anaheim this series and lamented the loss of his best scoring chance.

"I just saw it lying there on the goal line and I just dove and thought for sure it was in, but he blew the whistle right when I touched it," he said. "Sometimes it happens and it's frustrating, but the game is over and we just have to go through that and keep battling."