Red Wings sweep Coyotes out of playoffs

The Detroit Red Wings swept Phoenix out of the NHL playoffs, notching a 6-3 victory to complete a 4-0 sweep of their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series. With 6:19 to play on Wednesday, Detroit's Danny Cleary scored from an awkward angle to break a 3-3 tie, his shot from behind the right post angling past Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. Todd Bertuzzi then scored with a shot that deflected off the skate of the Coyotes' David Schlemko, and Patrick Eaves scored Detroit's last goal into an empty net with 35 seconds remaining. The Red Wings became the first team to reach the second round of the playoffs, despite injuries to both Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen. Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom opened the scoring less than four minutes into the contest, but the Coyotes responded with two deflected goals, from Taylor Pyatt and Shane Doan, to take the lead. Eaves' goal in the final minute of the first period made it 2-2, and Martin Hanzal and Niklas Kronwall traded power play goals early in the second.