DETROIT (AP) – It took the Detroit Red Wings less than five minutes to erase 40 minutes of frustration.

Tomas Holmstrom scored 4:55 into the third period after Kris Draper tied it 37 seconds into the frame to lift Detroit to a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in the opening game of their first-round series.

Robert Lang gave the Red Wings a two-goal cushion with 1:45 left.

In his first playoff start, Manny Legace made 23 saves for the Red Wings, who earned an NHL-best

109 points in the regular season.

For the first two periods, there were striking similarities to the Red Wings’ playoff appearance last year when a young franchise with a goaltender making his playoff debut rocked a star-studded team. Tomas Vokoun played like Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and the Predators looked like the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

Giguere set a record for a playoff debut with 63 saves last year when Anaheim knocked off the Red Wings in Game 1. Anaheim swept Detroit en route to the Stanley Cup finals.

In Nashville’s first playoff game in its six-season history, Adam Hall scored 16 seconds into the game – the quickest Detroit has been scored against in its playoff history.

Vokoun made 19 saves during the first two periods before giving up two early goals in the third and finishing with 26 saves.

With Dominik Hasek out with a groin injury and Curtis Joseph hobbled for much of the season with an ankle injury, Legace has become Detroit’s surprising No. 1 goalie. The career backup relieved Hasek for the last 11 minutes in one playoff game – his only previous postseason game – when the Red Wings won their 10th Stanley Cup in 2002.

Legace said he would be nervous to play Wednesday, and he had to be after Hall’s goal and Steve Sullivan’s miss on a penalty shot 1:31 after the start.

Detroit’s rabid fans were eerily quiet until Draper tied it at 1. Kirk Maltby fed Draper with a pass and he split two defenders before scoring from the bottom of the left circle. Holmstrom redirected Mathieu Schneider’s shot for the go-ahead goal.

It didn’t appear to help them for two periods, but the Red Wings have a decided advantage in playoff experience.

They are making their 53rd playoff appearance and 14th consecutive and are favorites to win their fourth Stanley Cup in eight years.

Detroit has 11 players with at least 100 games of playoff experience. Nashville’s Jim McKenzie, who helped New Jersey win the Stanley Cup last season, played in a team-high 51st postseason game.

Notes: Predators RW Scott Walker made his playoff debut after 574 regular-season games. Walker had the second longest streak behind Guy Charron, who went 734 games without appearing in a postseason game before he retired in 1981. … Just after the national anthem, an octopus was thrown on the ice – a playoff tradition in Detroit. … Greg Johnson and Scott Hartnell were credited with assists on Hall’s goal. … Toronto’s Sid Smith scored 17 seconds into a game won by the Red Wings on March 24, 1955, for the previous fastest goal against Detroit. … Hall is a former Michigan State standout.

AP-ES-04-07-04 2206EDT