DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings had squandered a three-goal first-period lead and were desperately fighting for their lives in the third period Friday.

With the game and their season on the line, the Red Wings turned up the heat on the San Jose Sharks in the final 5 minutes. Their pressure paid off when Darren Helm scored with 1:27 remaining, lifting Detroit to a 4-3 victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals at Joe Louis Arena.

After losing seven playoff games all decided by one goal to the Sharks during the past two years, the Red Wings finally found a way to win a close game. They trail the series 3-1 heading into Game 5 on Sunday night at HP Pavilion.

"Some guys may not be back. This might be one of our last chances to have a really good team, so you want to win and play hard for everybody in here," Helm said. "It’s about the logo on your chest. There’s a lot of pride in this dressing room and guys knew it was a desperate situation, and they didn’t want to be embarrassed by being swept.

"Tonight, we just told ourselves we weren’t going to be denied."

The Red Wings were all over the Sharks in the final minutes. Helm capped an excellent shift by the fourth line by taking a pass from Patrick Eaves and firing the puck into an open net as goaltender Antti Niemi, leaning to this left, couldn’t recover in time.

"It was a great pass by Patty," Helm said. "He gave a good pump and kind of put everyone down, and I think the goalie bit pretty good on it. Just laid it nicely there in front of me and I was able to see the open net."

RED WINGS 4, SHARKS 3

Key play:

Darren Helm took a pass from Patrick Eaves and fired the puck into the open side of the net with 1:27 remaining in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie.





Hero: Helm capped several minutes of sustained pressure by the Red Wings, who had the Sharks on their heels in the final minutes. He made up for a turnover that led to San Jose's first goal.





Goat: Patrick Marleau continues to be silent in the series. He had no points in 20:41 of ice time in Game 4 and still hasn't recorded a point in the series.





Analysis: Whether it's too little, too late remains to be seen. But the Red Wings finally were rewarded for a strong effort. Blowing a three-goal lead is disconcerting, but with their season on the line, they showed a lot of character by dominating the Sharks in the final five minutes. Winning a tight game in the third period is a good confidence-builder and gives them some momentum.

Eaves picked up the rebound off a shot by Brian Rafalski.

"I normally would have shot it, but I saw guys going down and getting in the way," Eaves said. "Helmer found a lane and I just threw it over to him."

Said Niemi: "I didn’t see the puck for a while. When I saw the puck, it was on the other side and they had an empty net."

Nicklas Lidstrom scored a pair of goals for Detroit. Todd Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist. Henrik Zetterberg and Danny Cleary each had two assists.

The Red Wings are trying to become just the fourth team in NHL history to come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a series.

"We didn’t want to get this to overtime (where the Sharks are 5-0 in this year’s playoffs)," Lidstrom said. "We wanted to get one before the 60 minutes were up.

"We showed some character, we showed some heart and fought back."

Helm made up for a turnover that led to San Jose’s first goal, by Logan Couture at 18:16 of the first period.

"Helmer was due," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "He turned the puck over for the first goal. He’s a real good player and it didn’t go his way in the last game."

The Sharks tied it 3-3 at 1:14 of the third period on Dany Heatley’s first goal of the series.

Heatley, all alone in front of the net, took a pass from Ryane Clowe and fired a shot past Jimmy Howard. Niklas Kronwall chased Clowe behind the net and his defense partner, Ruslan Salei, was caught in no-man’s land.

Detroit killed a pair of San Jose power plays in the third period to keep the game tied.

"Our fans were going crazy the last 10 minutes of the game," Howard said. "That really helped energize us."

The Red Wings raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, threatening to blow it open much like they did in last year’s 7-1 victory in Game 4.

Bertuzzi triggered the rally by scoring his first goal of the series at 6:22. He made a nice spin move to avoid Heatley in the offensive zone and, from the faceoff circle, lifted a hard backhand shot over Niemi.

"I just got a good pass up by Bear (Cleary), then just tried to take it to the inside, got him moving the right way and got around him, tried to get a good, hard shot on net," Bertuzzi said. "It was nice to see it go in."

Lidstrom made it 2-0 at 11:09, blasting in the long rebound of a shot by Cleary before a scrambling Niemi could get himself squared in net.

Lidstrom scored again, on the power play at 18:01 as he fired in a bouncing puck.

The Sharks were outshot 10-6 in the second period but gained some momentum by killing all three Detroit power plays.

They cut their deficit to 3-2 when Dan Boyle scored at 13:44. In a back-door play similar to his game-tying goal in Game 3, Boyle took a pass from Kyle Wellwood and fired a high shot past Howard.

The Sharks tied it, but the Red Wings found a way to win. Now they head to San Jose with some momentum.

Mike Babcock post-game press conference

Jimmy Howard post-game interview

Henrik Zetterberg post-game interview