Klein’s offense, defense lift Predators past Wings

DETROIT — The only similarity between Nashville Predators defenseman Kevin Klein and No. 4 Bobby Orr is that their jersey numbers are both divisible by four.

But Sunday afternoon, No. 8 Klein made an Orr-like move to score a memorable second-period goal and added a goal-saving block and an important assist to key the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 win. Nashville leads 2-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal. Game 4 is Tuesday in Detroit.

Klein, who has 13 goals in 310 NHL games, made a shake-and-bake move to zoom around Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart inside the blue line and then skated in and beat goalie Jimmy Howard for a goal that gave Nashville a 2-0 lead.

“I don’t know what I was really doing there,” Klein said, laughing. “It was just one of those plays when you read and react. Marty (Erat) gave me a nice pass back. It was nice to make a move and go in (to) score and get the boys fired up.”

Klein said he had speed, and that’s why he decided to try a bit of flashiness. “I like to step up and show my offensive talent once a year — that’s about it,” said Klein, who had a career-high 21 points this season.

At 5:50 of the third period, Klein made an equally important play when he managed to get his stick on a shot from Cory Emmerton that seemed destined for the net. Goalie Pekka Rinne had made the first save, but his momentum had left the net open for Emmerton’s rebound.

“That was awesome,” Rinne said of Klein’s block. “He’s done that a lot this year. I guess he has a little bit of goalie instinct, but he made a huge block . . . really saved a for-sure goal. “That’s one of the key plays.” Rinne had a strong game, making 41 saves. The Red Wings outshot Nashville 19-4 in the third period.

Said Emmerton: “We have to start better. We didn’t have a great start. The building was electric, and we weren’t able to feed off that. We came out a little slow, and it cost us a bit.”

The Red Wings have given up the first goal in eight of the last nine games and 16 of the last 20 games.

“In the next game, the big thing for us would be to get the first goal,” Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “That would be key for us.”