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CHICAGO -- Maybe it was the extra rest, or another raucous crowd at the United Center. Maybe it was just the resumption of one of the NHLs biggest rivalries. Whatever it was, the Chicago Blackhawks finally found that extra gear they talked about for days. Johnny Oduya and Marcus Kruger scored in the third period, Corey Crawford made 20 saves and the Blackhawks beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 in the opener of their second-round playoff series Wednesday night. "Much better from our prior series," coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought what were talking about in our team game was in place. Had some pace, had some speed, zone time, and I thought everybody contributed." In the wake of Chicagos five-game victory over Minnesota in the first round, Quenneville talked about a higher level of intensity, and each of his biggest stars echoed his comments. The response was a dominant final two periods in the Blackhawks first game in the Western Conference semifinals since they won the Stanley Cup in 2010. Marian Hossa had the opening goal in the first, and Patrick Sharp finished with an empty-netter and two assists to give him nine points in the post-season. "I thought it was our best game of the playoffs, no question," Sharp said. Jimmy Howard had 38 stops in a terrific performance, but Detroit still lost to rival Chicago for the eighth straight time dating to last season. "I think in the first it was pretty even, but then I think in the second and third they looked like they had a little more energy than we did," Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "Its going to be nice to have a day off tomorrow and practice and then looking forward to Game 2." The series resumes on Saturday afternoon at the United Center. The 75th all-time playoff game between the Blackhawks and Red Wings was tied at 1 after two periods, and Howard made a great stop on a breakaway by Dave Bolland 4 1/2 minutes into the third. Chicago kept working and went in front to stay on a heady play by Oduya. He drifted in from the point and sent Sharps pass past Howard on the glove side with 12 minutes left. "Getting the win is the only thing that actually matters," Oduya said. "Like I said, anyone could have scored that goal at that point. We had a lot of chances and Im lucky I got it in there." Kruger then jumped on a loose puck and sent a backhander into the upper right corner to make it 3-1. That was more than enough for Crawford, who caught a break when Damien Brunners rebound attempt went off the crossbar and straight down before Brent Seabrook swept it away with about three minutes left. The opener of the 16th playoff series between the Original Six teams was the first game for Chicago since it eliminated Minnesota last Thursday. Detroit closed out Anaheim with a 3-2 win in Game 7 on Sunday night, taking the final two games of the series against the second-seeded Ducks. Despite the long break, there was no sign of rust for the Blackhawks. The Red Wings skated right with Chicago at the start, but they couldnt keep up at the end of the game and coach Mike Babcock said they were looking forward to a day off. "Were not trying to take anything away from them," he said. "They were better than us. The score tonight was more than fair as far as Im concerned. They were better." The Blackhawks struck first in the first playoff game between the teams since Detroit won the 2009 Western Conference final. With Gustav Nyquist in the box for hooking, Sharp forced a turnover along the boards and Jonathan Toews sent the puck to Hossa, who one-timed it past Howard at 9:03. Detroit needed less than two minutes to respond, tying it when Brunner poked in a rebound for his third career playoff goal. The rookie centre also contributed three assists in the first round against the Ducks. The Blackhawks killed off two power plays created by penalties on Andrew Shaw. They killed off another one when Nick Leddy was sent off for delay of game in the second period, making them a perfect 20 for 20 on the penalty kill in the post-season and sinking Detroit to 1 for 18 on power plays against Chicago, including the regular season. "We know that were a much better team than this," Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall said. "The second and third period were not nearly good enough. We know were better than this, so we have to find to get better here for Game 2." NOTES: It was the 800th game between the teams. ... Detroit F Justin Abdelkader was shaken up after he collided with Blackhawks D Michal Rozsival in the first period. He was helped to the bench after a few moments down on the ice, but eventually returned to the game. ... Blackhawks F Viktor Stalberg was a healthy scratch. Quenneville said it was a "coachs decision" and Stalberg could get back on the ice at any point. ... Toews and Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings joined Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins as finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHLs best defensive forward. ... Chicago won eight of the previous 15 playoff series against Detroit. Cheap Football NCAA Jerseys . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. Clearance NCAA Jerseys .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Cheap Basketball College Jerseys . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys China .com) - The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward James Neal on injured reserve Tuesday.Russell Knox made a strong start to the defence of his WGC-HSBC Champions title with a bogey-free opening round in Shanghai. Knox finished 20 under par in winning his first European Tour title last year and carried on where he left off on Thursday as he attempts to become only the second player after Tiger Woods to retain a World Golf Championships title.The 31-year-old Scot carded a 66 at Sheshan International to finish six under par, a shot behind playing partner Rickie Fowler and two back from Swedens Rikard Karlberg. The group of Knox, Fowler and Paul Casey were a combined 18 under par for the day, with Casey carding a 67 which featured four birdies, an eagle and the groups only bogey on the 11th. Rikard Karlberg carded a 64 in the opening round at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai After starting on the back nine, Knox followed four straight pars with four birdies in succession from the 14th, before picking up further shots on the third and seventh.Fowler had covered the back nine in 31 and completed a flawless 65 with birdies on the second and ninth, the latter edging him ahead of Knox and compatriot Daniel Berger. Watch NOW TV Catch all the excitement of Sky Sports for just ￡6.99 - and no contract! World No 3 Rory McIlroy was seven shots off the pace with an opening day 71 as he chased the victory he feels will be necessary to have a chance of winning the Race to Dubai for the third year running.McIlroy is more than a million points behind Masters champion Danny Willett, who has a lead of more than 400,000 points over Open champion Henrik Stenson, with Willett battling back from a nightmare start to card an opening 74. Rickie Fowler is one off the pace after the opening round.dddddddddddd Three bogeys and a double bogey in the space of four holes took Willett to the turn in 41, but birdies on the second, third and ninth repaired some of the damage for the world No 9.McIlroy also started on the 10th and ended a run of six straight pars with a birdie on the 16th, although even that was something of a disappointment after driving the green on the short par four and missing from eight feet for an eagle. Rory McIlroy carded a 71 in the opening round in Shanghai And there was worse to come on the par-five 18th as the four-time major winner pushed his approach into the water surrounding the green, the resulting bogey dropping him back to level par before he hit another birdie at the seventh to finish one under par.Watch the WGC-HSBC Champions throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.You can watch Premier League and EFL Cup football, plus Englands tour of Bangladesh and the Mexican Grand Prix on Sky Sports. Upgrade now and enjoy six months at half price! Also See: WATCH: WGC-HSBC Champions McIlroy hunts historic double Knoxs 2015 Shanghai success Harrington targets Ryder Cup ' ' '