They rallied to tie the series at one in game two, then dropped game three when it seemed as though they’d take a 2-1 series lead. Last night the Red Wings were hoping to avoid a 3-1 deficit in their series against the Sharks, but after giving up two goals, their likelihood of winning seemed as remote as Pluto.

With barely 30 seconds left to play, San Jose was poised to put Detroit in a huge playoff hole, but Robert Lang stepped up, buried the game-tying goal at 19:27 and sent it to overtime. The much maligned (by me) Dominik Hasek came up with a huge save on Marcel Goc to stone an early Sharks opportunity, but a delay of game penalty from Craig Rivet would set the stage for Detroit’s dramatic, come-from-behind victory.

Rivet lifted the puck over the glass from his own zone and had to sit on the mandatory penalty (except of course, if you’re the Ottawa Senators playing the Rangers). Detroit applied pressure in the San Jose zone forcing Scott Hannan to try and clear it up the middle. Mathieu Schneider smacked the puck down with his stick and ripped it over Evgeni Nabokov’s shoulder to end the game.

Thomas Holmstrom’s return (since being sidelined with blood on his eye after being sticked in the face by Craig Conroy in the Flames series) was immense for Detroit. His presence in front of the net was sorely missed. Holmstrom notched the Red Wings’ first goal of the game to cut the Sharks lead to 2-1. It’s the second time in the series that the Wings have overcome a 2-0 deficit to win and the series is all square as the teams head back to Detroit for game five.