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 Thursday in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. San Jose will host Game 5 Saturday with another chance to advance to hockey's final four for the second time in franchise history. Franzen of Belarus 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 making 28 saves for Detroit. “We came out with a good push and Mule got hot at the right moment and scored some goals for us, but the whole team really responded well,” Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom told reporters. “If you give him a little bit of time like tonight ... he gets hot in a hurry,” Lidstrom added of Franzen. A prolific scorer, Franzen was key to the Red Wings' drive to the Stanley Cup championship in 2008 and the finals last year. He missed 55 games with a knee injury this season, but scored nine goals and added 10 assists over the last 24 regular season games to help Detroit earn a playoff berth. Before Thursday, however, Franzen had scored just two goals for the Red Wings in the playoffs this year. “We came out like the desperate team we had to be,” Lidstrom said, adding that “We know our team has to come out with that same desperation again.” Canadiens 3, Penguins 2: At Montreal, Maxim Lapierre and Brian Gionta scored 1:33 apart early in the third period to lift Montreal over Pittsburgh in Game 4 and into a tie in the Eastern Conference semifinal series. Jaroslav Halak stopped 33 shots, and Tom Pyatt also scored for Montreal, which trailed 2-1 through the first two periods while being outshot 25-9. Maxime Talbot and Chris Kunitz scored 1:51 apart early in the first period to put Pittsburgh ahead. Pyatt had netted his first career playoff goal 2:34 in to put Montreal in front. Lapierre drew the Canadiens even at 2 with a wraparound goal 2:20 into the third. Game 5 is Saturday night in Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for the Penguins, who lost for the first time in five playoff road games.
