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San Jose and Detroit got their Round 2 series underway with a Game 1 battle in the Motor City.

Detroit was without Niklas Kronwall and Tomas Holmstrom while the Sharks started the night with a healthy lineup. There were no surprises in net as Evgeni Nabokov and Dominik Hasek took their starting spots.

The usual pregame octopus was tossed on the ice prior to the anthem and the Red Wings game out flying, but Nabokov held off the initial barrage of shots.

Then San Jose found their skates and put up the next few shots. The best opportunity came when a pass found Jonathan Cheechoo behind the defense and he skated in on Hasek. A quick closing defender forced Cheechoo to release a bit early and the save was made.

Detroits crowd rose to their feet when Pavel Datsyuk found himself alone with the puck in front of Nabokov. The crafty forward was matched move for move by Nabokov and by the time he found a shooting angle, Patrick Marleau arrived to prevent the scoring chance.

A Niklas Lidstrom hooking penalty against Joe Thornton behind the net put San Jose on the power play and Thornton made Detroit pay. Setting up shot behind the net, the Sharks big center held the puck until Matt Carle dropped down from his point. Carle timed the shot just as the puck arrived and Hasek has no chance to move over. Mike Grier had the secondary assist on the games first goal.

San Jose struck 24 seconds later for the 2-0 lead. This time, hard forechecking by the Curtis Brown line, which also featured Grier and Patrick Rissmiller, forced the puck to Grier at the slot and the veteran leader knocked it home. Just 10 minutes into the contest, Detroit was forced to use their timeout.

The game was closely contested in the opening 20 minutes, but even though the home club led on the shot clock 11-9, San Jose held a 2-0 lead.

Detroit came out desperate in the second, but San Jose was matching their intensity early. The best early opportunity came when Kirk Maltby rang one off the outside of Nabokovs post.

The Wings took to their first power play seven minutes into the second when Vlasic accidentally cleared the puck over the glass in the defensive zone. An amazing effort for the final 40 seconds of the kill, as Brown blocked a shot with his back while minus a stick, finished off the Red Wings chance.

Cheechoo had a chance to make it 3-0 moments later. He entered the slot with the puck and had Hasek beat moving to the backhand, but lost the play on the other side.

Team Teal was forced to kill off a second Wings power play at the games midway point and once again, the Sharks shorthanded crew came up big.

It seemed as if the Sharks were tempting fate when a Christian Ehrhoff tripping penalty gave the Wings a third consecutive power play, but for a third straight time, Detroit could not convert.

The multiple man-advantages allowed Detroit to create a massive 10-3 shot advantage in the second, but they could not put a dent in the scoreboard and the second finished as it started, 2-0.

Detroit came out with the first three shots of the third and Nabokov was terrific in stopping the third one, on which Jiri Hudler had the puck in close.

With 10 to go in the third, the Sharks were maintaining their 2-0 lead and seemed to be tiring the home club and forcing the offense.

San Jose continued to contain the potent Wings offense as Nabokov and the Sharks took Game 1 with the 2-0 shutout.