Glendale, AZ (Sports Network) - Valtteri Filppula's goal early in the second capped a three-goal burst and the Detroit Red Wings took a 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 3 of a Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Drew Miller, Ruslan Salei and Johan Franzen all had goals for the Red Wings, who hold a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Jimmy Howard stopped 28 shots in the win.
Detroit played again without star forward Henrik Zetterberg, who has sat out since April 6 with a knee injury.
David Schlemko and Ray Whitney each scored for the Coyotes, who saw Ilya Bryzgalov give up all four goals on 34 shots in the loss.
The Red Wings will go for the series sweep on Wednesday in Glendale.
"I think we can relax a little bit now. There's nothing really to lose," Whitney said. "It's not a position we want to be in for sure ... Play as hard as you can in Game 4 and hopefully you can extend it."
The first goal of the game was Salei's as his blast from the right point went through a screen just 1:57 into the contest.
Just 44 seconds later, it was a 2-0 game as a shot from Niklas Kronwall at the right point was redirected into the net by Miller in front.
"We came out with a good start. Our third and fourth lines did a great job in the first period," Kronwall said.
Howard made nine stops in the first period and Filppula made it a 3-0 game 2:50 into the second. A right circle faceoff win saw Jiri Hudler fire a pass from the right boards to the slot and Filppula stretched it over to the left side and flung it into the net.
Phoenix got one back on the power play at the 11:43 mark of the middle stanza. From the low left circle, Schlemko went upstairs on the short-side to get Phoenix on the board.
The Red Wings got the three-goal lead back just 45 seconds into the third as Franzen was sprung on the breakaway and snapped the puck over the glove of Bryzgalov.
Whitney scored with seven minutes to play on the power play, as his slap shot from the left circle was stopped, but the rebound hit off the back of Salei in front and went into the net.
Phoenix, though, was unable to cut into its deficit any further.
Game Notes
Detroit has scored four goals in each game of the series...Kronwall had two assists in the game...Detroit's power play was 0-for-4 while Phoenix scored on two of its three man advantages.
