CALGARY - Mathieu Dandenault rescued the Red Wings from an 18-second collapse that could have wrecked their season.
The defenseman scored his first goal of the postseason midway through the third period as top-seeded Detroit beat the Flames 4-2 Thursday night and evened the best-of-seven second-round playoff series at 2.
Martin Gelinas and Ville Nieminen scored for the Flames 18 seconds apart in the second period to tie it at 2 before Dandenault got the lead back for the Wings.
Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff got a piece of Tomas Holmstrom's shot. The puck squirted through his legs and lay in the crease, where Dandenault nudged it over the line with 9:58 left. Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-net goal.
FLYERS: Defenseman Kim Johnsson will play in Game 4 tonight against Toronto after missing three games with a broken bone in his left hand. Johnsson will be paired with defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson, who didn't practice Thursday after being slashed in the leg on Wednesday. Ragnarsson is expected to play.
THRASHERS: General manager Don Waddell will return for a sixth season, agreeing to a new deal.
DANTON CASE: A woman pleaded innocent to charges she was an accomplice in a murder-for-hire plot with Blues forward Mike Danton. Katie Wolfmeyer entered the plea in federal court in East St. Louis, Ill. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for July 1, and her trial was set for July 13.
LABOR TALKS: Failing to break major ground on the issue of salaries in their first formal labor talks since October, the NHL and its players union scheduled more negotiations late next month.
The discussions were an attempt to spur stalled labor talks to head off a potential lockout that could disrupt next season after the collective-bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15.
OBITUARY: Sid Smith, a former Maple Leafs captain and three-time Stanley Cup winner, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 78.
Mr. Smith played parts of 12 seasons in Toronto between 1946-58. He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most gentlemanly player in 1951-52 and again in 1954-55 when he was an All-Star. He was captain of the Leafs in 1955-56.
"He was a great Leaf - great enough to be captain," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "He'll be sadly missed by the fraternity."
Mr. Smith was known for his speed and getting loose pucks. He played in more than 400 consecutive games. Mr. Smith scored 186 goals and assisted on 183.
