Johan Franzen scored four goals as the Detroit Red Wings fended off elimination in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday with a 7-1 drubbing of San Jose. Franzen had a natural hat trick in a 3:26 span of the first period, and added his fourth goal in the third, setting a Detroit postseason record with six points as the Red Wings narrowed the gap in the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series to 3-1. The Sharks host game five on Saturday as they try to reach the conference finals for the second time in club history. Franzen was originally credited with scoring the first goal of the game, but a scoring change gave the goal to Todd Bertuzzi. That meant Franzen didn't equal the NHL playoff record with four goals in a period. Valtteri Filppula put Detroit ahead 5-0 late in the first with a shot that bounced off San Jose defenseman Douglas Murray. Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov made only four saves in the first period and was replaced by Thomas Greiss, who let the second shot he faced - from Brian Rafalski - get past him. The Sharks capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play when Dany Heatley scored with 48.5 seconds left in the second to make it 6-1. After three straight suspect performances, Jimmy Howard was solid in goal for Detroit, making 28 saves. San Jose had scored four goals in each of the first three victories as they took a 3-0 series lead over the two-time defending Western Conference champions. Franzen, who had two assists, broke the team playoff record of five points that was shared by Steve Yzerman and Norm Ullman. He equalled the Detroit franchise mark for goals in a postseason game, matching the record Carl Liscombe set in 1945 and Ted Lindsay matched in 1955. 