80’s Flash Back: Detroit Red Wings 7 Dallas Stars 6

Hot off a 3-2 shootout victory over the Chicago Black Hawks the Detroit Red Wings(32-14-10) faced off against the Dallas Stars(27-23-8) on Saturday the 21st of February.  Tomas Jurco and Jakub Kindl drew into the line up to replace Joakim Andersson(scratched) and Kyle Quincey(injured) for the Wings and Goaltender Jimmy Howard was between the pipes hoping to lead the team to a consecutive victory on the road.  Dallas would be without the services of Tyler Seguin and former Red Wing Patrick Eaves with Kari Lehtonen in net.

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1st Period: Detroit 1 Dallas 1

Detroit came out smooth and steady to a rousing chant of  “Lets Go Red Wings” to start the period.  All four lines were rolling and they held a 6-1 shot advantage after 4 minutes of play.  Stars Captain Jamie Benn took a late run at Jonathan Ericsson  and the two big men dropped the gloves.  Detroit continued to hold sway for most of the period until a defensive zone face off lead to Jordie Benn throwing a shot on net and his brother Jamie shoveled home the rebound after Howard made the initial save.  Luke Glendening gets the blame for not tying up Benn’s stick in front of Howard and allowing him a clean stab at the rebound.

Dallas came to life after this and began to get physical with the Wings.  Justin Abdelkader had his head on a swivel and was able to shrug off a potential high hit but moments later his line mate Teemu Pulkkinen had to scramble to partially avoid a similar hit, he would leave the bench shortly after.  Alexey Marchenko would answer the Stars pressure by breaking up a neutral zone pass and sending Riley Sheahan ahead with a pass.  Sheahan gained the zone and delayed long enough for Gustav Nyquist to get free and rip a shot the banked off of Kari Lehtonen and found its way into the net.  Marchenko’s assist on the goal and marked his first career NHL point.  The two teams traded multiple chances but neither team found the back of the net.  Shots for the period were Detroit 11 Dallas 13.

2nd Period: Detroit 2 Dallas 4

Detroit got some good news as Pulkkinen returned to the bench to start the period.  Detroit drew a penalty when Jamie Benn took a couple of shots at Henrik Zetterbergs head off of the face off.  The ensuing power play generated only a little offense never really gaining any true advantage.  Jimmy Howard quickly became the story making huge saves on Ales Hemsky and Antoine Roussell.  Dallas started asserting themselves again and were carrying until Pavel Datsyuk stripped the puck as Dallas began to break out.  This caused a 3 on 1 chance, with the defender left to cover Datsyuk had plenty of time and space to take the puck to the net and score on his own.  Shortly after it looked like the Wings were going to lock it down.

Alexey Marchenko continued to play well, Glendening’s line was doing its thing and then the wheels fell off the bus.  A bus that was on fire and going off a cliff.  Shawn Horcoff scored on a 3 on 2 rush after Howard made the initial windmill kick save the puck rolled into the net.  Seconds later Cody Eakin teed up a shot from the point that beat Howard blocker side through a screen.  Just over a minute later Eric Cole jabbed home the puck making it 4-2.  Detroit was dumbfounded by the turn of events and Dallas rolled over them like a tidal wave of Green and Black.  Zetterberg argued that the Cole goal involved interference but the referees were not buying what he was selling.  Detroit limped out of the period being out-shot 28-18.

3rd Period/Overtime: Detroit 7 Dallas 6

The Detroit Red Wings started the 3rd getting some bad news, that Captain Henrik Zetterberg would be out for the remainder of the game with an “upper body” injury.  That news seemed to light a fire under the team with Jakub Kindl scoring 2 goals in under two minutes.  The first was a one timer from 60 feet out the second came after Tomas Tatar dragged 3 stars defenders with him leaving a back pass and an open net for Kindl.  Dallas wouldn’t stand for that turn of events for long as 3 minutes later Curtis McKenzie deflected a Jordie Benn shot from the point.  Glendening was then whistled for a trip on Jamie Benn, who went down as easy as a 6’3 220lbs man could.  Shawn Horcoff would capitalize on the power play on a cross crease one timer from Eric Cole.  That would end the night for Howard as Jonas Gustavsson entered the game.

Down 6-4 things were right back where they started.  Amazingly the Wings were not done.  Detroit was sent to the power play when John Klingberg sent a puck over glass.  As was the case all night Detroit’s power play was as toothless until Niklas Kronwall blasted a shot on net that Justin Abdelkader deflected past Lehtonen.  With 2 minutes left Mike Babcock brought Gustavsson back to the bench giving the Wings the man advantage.  Dallas effectively cleared the puck twice on the third try Tomas Tatar delayed long enough before shooting on net.  The ensuing chaos in front of the Dallas net resulted in a bouncing puck, Abdelkader pushing Lehtonen and the Magic Man Pavel Datsyuk firing home the puck.  Dallas coach Lindy Ruff argued the call but as Jimmy Howard can tell you Goaltender interference isn’t a reviewable call.  The game would go to Overtime with Detroit having 35 shots on goal and Dallas with 34.

In over time things went more like the Wings would have liked.  Just 36 seconds into the period Darren Helm carried the puck into the Dallas Zone.  He dished the puck to Kronwall who slipped into the slot deeked past the defenders and fired a back-hander past the goalie sealing the game for the Wings.

Final Recap

Wow.  No more of that please.  The Wings stole a victory tonight that probably shouldn’t have happened.  Jimmy Howard was hung out to dry and was the victim of several calls we have seen earlier in the season go as interference.  Somehow, probably more due to the terrible defense and goaltending of Dallas the offense was able to fire home video game like goals.  I doubt we can rely on Jakub Kindl scoring 2 a night for us either and he was admittedly better than many thought he would be. That Datsyuk line deserves a lot of credit for the last handful of games, it is unfortunate that Zetterberg got hurt as his line with Pulky looked like it was getting its mojo going. After the game there was no update on Zetterberg so hopefully he is ok to go for the rest of the road trip.  Its was a 2 point win for the Wings that goes in the ROW column for the boys in Red sometimes that is all you can hope for.