DETROIT — Johan Franzen had a natural hat trick in a 3:26 span of the first period, scored a fourth goal in the third, and set a Red Wings playoff record with six points as Detroit stayed alive with a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.
San Jose will host Game 5 on Saturday night with another chance to advance to hockey's final four for the second time in franchise history.
Franzen was originally credited with scoring the first goal 5:40 into the game, but a scoring change gave the goal to Todd Bertuzzi. That prevented Franzen from tying the NHL playoff record with four goals in a period.
Valtteri Filppula put Detroit ahead 5-0 late in the first period on a shot that went off San Jose defenseman Douglas Murray and effectively ended goalie Evgeni Nabokov's night.
Nabokov made just four saves in the first period and was replaced by Thomas Greiss, who let the second shot he faced get past him off Brian Rafalski's one-timer.
San Jose took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play when Dany Heatley scored with 48.5 seconds left in the second period to make it 6-1.
Jimmy Howard was solid, making 28 saves, after three straight shaky performances. The Sharks scored four goals in each of their first three wins in the series against the two-time defending Western Conference champions.
Franzen, who had two assists, broke the team playoff record of five points that Steve Yzerman and Norm Ullman shared. He tied the Red Wings mark for goals in a playoff game, matching the record Carl Liscombe set in 1945 and Ted Lindsay matched in 1955.
Anaheim's Joffrey Lupul was the last player to score four goals in an NHL playoff game in 2006 against Colorado.
The night wasn't perfect for Detroit because defenseman Brad Stuart left the game due to a lower body injury in the first period. Stuart was checked into the boards by defenseman Rob Blake in the first period.
Notes
The game got very chippy in the second and third periods, leading to 10-minute misconduct calls against San Jose's Joe Thornton and Ryane Clowe along with Detroit's Kris Draper. … The game potentially was the last one at Joe Louis Arena because the Red Wings' lease is expiring. The team is considering moving to The Palace of Auburn Hillls, the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons.