Nicklas Lidstrom's bomb from center ice proved to be the difference as the Red Wings tacked on a pair of third period goals in a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 6 Sunday afternoon. Jiri Hudler and Brian Rafalski also scored for Detroit as the club moves on to the second round to face either the Calgary Flames or Colorado Avalanche.

The two teams were locked on a 0-0 stalemate when the Red Wings got an incredibly fortunate bounce from a Lidstrom shot from beyond center ice. With Detroit on a penalty kill and in the midst of a 21-4 shot advantage in the middle period, Lidstrom blasted a shot from his own side of center that dipped and bounced between the circles in front of Dan Ellis and found the top glove-side corner of the net to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.

The goal was reminiscent of another Lidstrom goal Red Wings fans know well: In a first round series in 2002 against the Vancouver Canucks, Lidstrom wound up and blasted a shot that beat Canuck goaltender Dan Cloutier to give Detroit a 2-1 lead late in the second period of Game 3 in a series the Red Wings were losing 2-0 after back-to-back losses at Joe Louis Arena. The Wings went on to win the game 3-1 and the series in six games.

Nashville killed a chance to get back any momentum following the Lidstrom goal by failing to convert on an extended 5-on-3 advantage.

Impressive rookie Darren Helm helped Detroit take a 2-0 lead early in the third period with a nifty pass across the top of the circles to Hudler, who blasted a shot past Ellis for his fifth point of the series.

Rafalski added an empty net goal to close out the scoring.

Detroit got another outstanding performance from goaltender Chris Osgood, who has allowed just 1 goal over 122 minutes of play over the last two games. Osgood was especially strong in the opening 10 minutes of the game when the Predators pressed for the early lead. Osgood turned aside all 20 shots he faced.

Ellis, who was peppered wih shots again, turned aside 40 of 42.