The Detroit Red Wings(17-6-5) hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs(15-9-3) in another Wednesday Night Rivalry Night on NBCSN. As always the typical pomp and circumstance stance that follows these two Original 6 teams in the lead up highlighted the past 3 games played against each other where Detroit holds a 2-1 series lead. The Red Wings were looking to keep their winning streak going having beaten the Hurricanes 3-1 and giving them 3 W’s in a row. The Leafs were looking to get their own run started coming off a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames giving them 2 wins in a row.
First Period: Toronto 0 Detroit 0
From Twitter, this pretty much sums up the period.
"Leafs haven’t had a single offensive zone faceoff yet. Almost 15 minutes in.— James Mirtle(@mirtle) December 11, 2014"
The period kicked off to a fast pace back and forth action. The Red Wings absolutely took it to the tired Leaf(who played the night before). Pavel Datsyuk and his line mates continued their creative offense while playing most of their minutes against the Kessel line of Toronto. The Wings generated several chances in front of the net. The Luke Glendening line continued to be steady, steady, steady, did I mention they were steady? The line was proficient at controlling the puck in the Offensive zone and limiting chances in the Defensive zone. Riley Sheahan had the moves early in the first after he turned the Toronto defense inside out on the rush and got a shot on net. For the remainder of the period the Wings kept the pressure up until the Leafs captain took a penalty, Dion Phaneuf went to the box for tripping, but shortly after(20 seconds) Tatar went for slashing after a botched Jakub Kindl pinch attempt forced him to slash a charging Leafs player on a breakaway, with neither one gaining much of an advantage with the limited power play time allotted. After the brief 4 vs 4 and 5 vs 4 play the Wings continued to take it to the Leafs with Datsyuk’s line continuing to pressure the Kessel line and the 3 other lines doing their part to pull the piano and keep the Leafs on their heels. After 20 minutes the score was 0-0 with 12 shots for Detroit and 7 for Toronto.
Second Period: Toronto 0 Detroit 1
The second period kicked off much like the first. Detroit took it to the Leafs generating a 2-1 chance from Nyquist just seconds into the period. Reimer was the story for the Leafs who were hemmed in during the opening minutes. Detroit’s Defense was making crisp tape to tape passes and being patient with the puck, the forwards where always in the right spot generating and limiting chances when they needed to. At one point Mike Babcock rolled almost all 4 lines while keeping Phaneuf and Morgan Reiley on the ice for 90 seconds. Then things turned from bad to worse. Detroit was whistled for 2 consecutive penalties and the Leafs went on a 5 on 3 power play. Glendening’s work on the face off and triangle kept his and the teams great PK going. The team forced the Leafs to keep the puck to the outside while the Leafs seemed desperate to find an open one-timer shot that wasn’t there. Joffrey Lupul then took a penalty that could have been a lot more worse but thankfully Kyle Quincey was not severely hurt when he was boarded forcefully into the wall. Detroit failed to capitalize on the advantage even though Zetterberg and Datsyuk were on the ice for a rare shift together. The Leafs’ tried to set the tone physically with Lupul laying a hit on Jurco, however he shrugged it off and went to the net and was fed a pass from Captain Z and got a shot on net. The resultant rebound found its way to Gustav Nyquist stick and he made no mistakes putting a spinning backhanded past James Reimer. Shots were an amazing 10 for Detroit and 3 for Toronto, which had a 5 vs 3 power play to boot. Making the game total 22 shots for Detroit and 10 for Toronto.
Third Period: Toronto 1 Detroit 1
As has been the theme all game the Wings came out gunning for the back of the net but came up short. The Leafs found their feet finally and started to apply pressure that they hadn’t since the 5 on 3 power play in the second. The Wings battled back but the Leafs were not giving anything up and applied the body every chance they could. Phil Kessel finally connected for the Leafs scoring a goal off of a James Van Riemsdyk pass. Phaneuf laid a big hit on Stephen Weiss and after that Kadri low bridged Glendening and earned a tripping penalty or his troubles. The Wings did well on the power play but it was marred by several shorthanded attempts against Howard. At the 4 minute mark of the period the Wings began to pour the attempts on net with Datsyuk doing magical things with the puck and Tatar, Sheahan and Helm coming close on an attempt in front of Reimer the Wings were poised to end it in the third. It was all for naught as Optimus-Reim continued to stand on his head and steal a point for Toronto. The final shots on goal for the period were Detroit 18, Toronto 6 bringing the game totals to Detroit 40 and Toronto 16.
Over Time/Shootout: Toronto 2 Detroit 1
The overtime saw lots of back and forth action including Jonathan Ericsson attempting a one handed back hand on net on the rush. Howard had to bail his team out on a few plays making a huge save with the help of Nyquist who stopped a goal on the line and was able to get the whistle. Near the end of the period Henrik Zetterberg was getting smashed all over the place with no calls until Kronwall went off for goalie interference with 50 second left in the OT. Shortly after a scrum behind Howard ensued with Ericson holding the fort and Glendening squaring up with Kessel, no penalties were called on the play. The Wings kill the last 50 second of the period off and were headed to the shoot out.
In the shoot out Datsyuk went first for Detroit and scored off the post. Tyler Bozak went next and scores 5 hole on Howard. Nyquist went up next and as the rest of the team had all game long Goose sent the puck wide and over the glove of Reimer. Lupul shot next for Toronto and also went wide and out. Tatar was tabbed next and he went in close stick handling but shoot the puck into the shoulder/arm of Reimer. Santorelli got the nod over Kessel and JVR and apparently Carlyle knew what he was doing as he also scores 5 hole. Game over.
Final Thoughts: This was as perfect as a game the Red Wings could have hoped for. They won faces offs, their forwards and defenseman were in perfect positioning, they lobbed shot after shot on net and everyone was moving. James Reimer absolutely stole this game for the Leafs tonight and unfortunately for the Wings that happens. Their next game will be against the Florida Panthers on 12/12/14, if they can play like this against them and every other team in the league they will more than they lose.