SAN JOSE, Calif., May 13 (UPI) -- Antti Niemi survived a Detroit onslaught down the stretch Thursday to bring San Jose a 3-2 win over the Red Wings in a dramatic finale to their playoff series.
For the second time in these playoffs a team rallied from a 3-0 deficit to force a deciding game and for the second time the team that did the rallying eventually came up short.
Vancouver fought off a comeback by Chicago to win Game 7 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series and San Jose did the same thing against Detroit. Now the teams that withstood those experiences will meet in the conference finals -- Vancouver owning the home-ice advantage over the Sharks in a series that will begin Sunday.
Niemi, who was in goal during Chicago's run to the Stanley Cup title last year, stopped 42-of-44 shots in a Game 6 loss and he turned aside 35-of-37 shots in the tense duel Thursday.
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San Jose appeared to have given itself some breathing room when Patrick Marleau tipped in a shot by Devin Setoguchi with 7:47 to go in regulation. That gave the Sharks a 3-1 lead, but that cushion lasted less than 2 minutes.
Pavel Datsyuk beat Niemi with a backhander with 6:01 remaining and Detroit then threw all it had at the San Jose goaltender.
Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard left the ice for a sixth attacker in the closing 2 minutes and Niemi was called on to stop four shots the rest of the way. The last of them came from Darren Helm with just 5 seconds remaining.
San Jose took a 2-0 lead after one period on goals from Setoguchi and Logan Couture. Both players scored for the sixth time in the playoffs and Couture's goal came with just 59 seconds to go in the period.
Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg produced the only second-period goal. Howard made 27 saves.
San Jose avoided becoming the fourth team in NHL history to lose a playoff series after taking a 3-0 lead. It happened last year when Philadelphia came back from a 3-0 deficit to down Boston.
