Wings surrender 3 goal lead before beating Columbus 7-4
The Wings have gotten into the habit of not playing complete games. Tonight was another perfect example of Detroit getting off to a good start and then allowing the opponent to get back into the game. But the Wings were able to get back on track in the third period to gain two points.
Dan Cleary got things started as he continued to build upon the best season of his career. At the 4:15 mark of the first period he found a spot in front of the Columbus net as Robert Lang put a shot on net. Blue Jacket netminder Fredrik Norrena wasn’t able to gain control of the puck and Cleary tapped the puck into the net to put Detroit up 1-0 at the 4:21 mark. Both teams played pretty well during the middle of the first period with lots of puck movement into both ends of the ice.
The Wings were able to extend their lead late in the first period. Robert Lang had the puck near the side boards and handled the puck while he surveyed the ice. Dan Cleary cut towards the net and Lang made a great pass to him. Cleary one-timed the puck between the circles and beat Norrena to give Detroit a 2-0 lead at the 16:00 mark of the first. That goal was his 16th goal of the season which leads the Red Wings. The period ended with Detroit up 2-0.
The game appeared to be all but over when Henrik Zetterberg put Detroit up 3-0 at the 8:45 point of the second period. Brett Lebda had the puck near the point before making a beautiful diagonal pass to Zetterberg, who just off to Norenna’s left near the goal line. Zetterberg took the pass and tucked the puck just beneath the crossbar. The Wings, apparently, were done for the night.
But the Blue Jackets had different ideas. They pressed and forced two turnovers in Detroit’s end of the ice that resulted in goals. The second goal came when David Vyborny was back checking and stole the puck from Nicklas Lidstrom. Vyborny went in all alone, waited for Osgood to drop and lifted the puck over him to cut the lead to 3-2. Columbus then took the lead with two straight power play goals in the third period. The goals came 2:02 apart. That second power play was debatable as the Fox Columbus crew that was broadcasting the game couldn’t find the incriminating penalty.
None of the four goals can be considered really soft goals and the Wings didn’t provide a lot of help up front, but Chris Osgood should have stopped two of the goals. He simply wasn’t on top of his game. If this game would have ended with Columbus winning 4-3 Osgood would have received a fair amount of criticism and it would have been warranted in my opinion.
Rather than worry about giving up the lead, Detroit went to work and took control of the game. Pavel Datsyuk has been one of the better forwards of late, his turnover in overtime against Minnesota notwithstanding. He carried the puck into the offensive zone just inside of the 11:20 mark and stickhandled his way through the heart of the Blue Jacket defense. He carried the puck to Norrena’s right before lifting the puck over the netminder’s shoulder to tie the game. Robert Lang followed up that goal with a power play goal that looked like it could have been deflected by Dan Cleary. Eventually that goal was credited to Cleary who scored a hat trick. You just can’t say enough about the season this guy is having.
I was concerned that a game that was entirely dictated by momentum would see Columbus get the tying marker. However Pavel Datsyuk made sure that would not happen. The puck was sent behind the Columbus net at the 18:15 mark. Datsyuk gathered up the puck off the end board and threw it in front of the net. Fredrik Norrena struggled with the puck and it ended up in the Columbus net. Danny Markov added an empty net goal 22 seconds later to close out the scoring.
Kirk Malbty ended up -2 on the night and Chris Osgood stopped 21 of 25 shots for a .840 save percentage. Henrik Zetterberg led the team with a +4 rating. Detroit went 1-3 on the power play but also gave up 2 power play goals on 4 opportunities. Neither Jiri Hudler nor Josh Langfeld garnered 5 minutes of ice time, but Valtteri Filppula played 7:49 which is close to what coach Mike Babcock said was the amount of ice time he wanted to see the 4th line play.
Chris Osgood Dan Cleary David Vyrborny Fredrik Norrena Henrik Zetterberg Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings Robert LangNo Comments
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