Detroit Completes Comeback, Beats Blueshirts 4-3
Henrik Lundqvist doesn’t need a sign
Brendan Shanahan scored the first goal of the game at the 2:18 mark of the first period. Michael Nylander joined the festivities just 13 seconds later by putting the puck past Dominik Hasek. Early on New York played like the team fighting for a playoff spot and it showed. The Wings didn’t want to skate and instead made lazy passes that resulted in turnovers.
But just under 5 minutes after New York took a 2-0 lead the Wings responded and got on the scoreboard. Pavel Datsyuk carried the puck across the blueline while Tomas Holmstrom took up residence in front of the net. Datsyuk put a shot on net that Holmstrom screened well enough to distract Lundqvist. The puck found the back of the net and New York’s lead was cut in half.
The Rangers nearly put the game away in the final 5:30 of the first period. Marcel Hossa put a rising slap shot from the right wing past Hasek to restore New York’s 2-goal lead at the 14:24 mark. The Versus announcers wondered if Mike Babcock would replace Hasek after he gave up 3 goals in less than 15 minutes. Fortunately he did not as Dom kept the Wings in the game. He made a critical save with 1.5 seconds left in the period on a 2 on 1 rush. As a result of the save the Wings went into the first intermission down 3-1.
The Wings controlled play in the second period, generating at least 3 very high quality scoring chances. Both Pavel Datsyuk and Robert Lang hit posts from very close quarters. Despite those glorious scoring chances the Wings were held off the scoreboard and went into the third period still down by two goals.
But Detroit seemed to shrug off their poor luck from the previous period and continued to carry play against the Rangers. They finally got on the scoreboard when Henrik Lundqvist misplayed the puck behind his net at the 2:20 mark of the third. Valtteri Filppula snuck in and gained control of the puck before centering it in front of the net. Jiri Hudler made the most of his 4:26 of ice time by swiping at the puck. It didn’t make it into the net but instead sat tantilizingly in the blue-iced crease. Hudler was cross-checked after his first swipe, but as he was falling to the ice he connected with the puck and swept it into the goal to pull Detroit within 1 goal of New York at the 2:31 mark of the period.
A little later Niklas Kronwall put a pretty straightforward shot on net that Lundqvist struggled with. He reached back to make sure the puck didn’t squirt through is five hole between his legs and go into the net. It would prove to be telling as Detroit’s tying goal would travel the same route. At about the 10:50 mark, Dan Cleary had the puck near the blue line and made a quick circle to gain space from the defender before putting the puck on net. It should have been a routine save for Lundqvist but he struggled to control the rebound. As he did Robert Lang crashed the net and tapped the puck between the netminder’s legs and scored the tying goal. You just had the sense at that point that Detroit would win this game.
Sure enough, the Wings scored the winning goal off a deft bit of back-checking by Henrik Zetterberg. The Rangers gained possession of the puck near their goal line at the 12:30 mark of the period. But Hank back checked to knock the puck loose. He gained control of the puck and put a shot past Lundqvist low, glove-side that provided the Wings with their first lead of the game.
The Rangers eventually pulled Lundqvist to gain the extra attacker, but were never able to get anything going in the offensive zone. Detroit was adept at clearing the zone and forcing New York to regroup. Both Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk were recognized as the top two stars of the game. Red Wings
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[…] I feel like a bit of a lazy bum for not getting this published until now, but I wanted to see the replays again before making any judgements on certain plays and had to wait until the videos were available. Dave of Gorilla Crouch and Steph of No Pun Intended had their recaps out last night. Check ‘em out. […]