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The Detroit Red Wings won two of three games this season vs. the Anaheim Ducks. That included a 5-2 victory March 22 when Justin Abdelkader (8) bagged his first career hat trick.

(AP File Photo)

When the Stanley Cup playoffs begin this week, the Detroit Red Wings will be facing the Anaheim Ducks for the sixth time.

The Red Wings have beaten the Ducks three times since their first meeting in 1997, when Detroit won the first of back-to-back Stanley Cups.

The Red Wings swept the Ducks in a four-game conference semifinal series in '97 before doing the same thing in the quarterfinals two years later.

Anaheim returned the favor in the 2003 conference quarterfinals, sweeping the Red Wings before beating them in six games in the 2007 conference finals. Anaheim went on to win the Stanley Cup that year.

In 2009, the defending champion Red Wings won a seven-game conference semifinal series with Anaheim before losing in the Stanley Cup Finals to Pittsburgh.

This season, the Red Wings won two of three with the Ducks after beating them in back-to-back games last month in Anaheim. Here's a look back at the season series:

Both teams scored twice in the second period before turnovers cost the Red Wings in the third, when the Ducks got two goals from Andrew Cogliano and one from Bobby Ryan Feb. 15 at Joe Louis Arena.

Cogliano and Ryan scored 48 seconds apart in the first two minutes thanks to turnovers by Niklas Kronwall and Ian White before Cogliano sealed the victory into an empty net with 1:49 left.

Rookies Tomas Tatar and Joakim Andersson, both recently recalled form Grand Rapids of the AHL, each had a goal and an assist for the injury-riddled Red Wings, who saw their record fall to 7-5-2.

Detroit played without Johan Franzen (hip flexor), Todd Bertuzzi (back), Mikael Samuelsson (groin) Darren Helm (back), Brendan Smith (shoulder) and Carlo Colaiacovo (shoulder).

The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak at Joe Louis Arena for the Ducks, who improved to 10-2-1.

The Ducks came into the March 22 game in Anaheim as the hottest team in the NHL but they were no match for Justin Abdelkader and the Red Wings.

Abdelkader bagged his first career hat trick while adding an assist, giving his five goals in three games after scoring just once in the previous 45 dating back to last season.

Pavel Datsyuk also had a goal to go with his 500th and 501st career assists while Franzen chipped in a goal and two assists as well.

Anaheim entered the game with a 22-3-4 record, the Ducks were 13-1 at home (winning 13 in a row) and they had earned a point in 12 straight games and 18 of their previous 19.

Daniel Cleary and Drew Miller scored first-period goals March 24 to get the Red Wings started toward an improbable road sweep.

The Ducks were threatening to make a run at first place in the overall standings before the Red Wings got to Anaheim, where Detroit won twice in 48 hours.

Jimmy Howard made 33 saves as the Red Wings won their fourth straight game on the road, giving them a 7-6-2 record away from Joe Louis Arena. In the two victories over Anaheim, Howard stopped 66 of 68 shots.

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