Previews & Recaps

Detroit Red Wings – 4
at
Colorado Avalanche – 3

Final in OT

First Period

Colorado struck first only 3:29 into the period and Milan Hejduk recieved the secondary assist in his first game back after missing the last five with a groin injury. Hejduk fed the puck down low to Tomas Fleischmann who wristed a shot on net. It was stopped by Chris Osgood, but Matt Duchene was positioned right in front of the net and slammed the rebound under Osgood’s skate and into the back of the net.

A little over two minutes later the Wings got on the board to tie the game at one. Jiri Hudler fired a slap shot from the top of the circle that was blocked by a defenseman in front, but Peter Budaj was already down in the butterfly ready for the shot. I think this threw off Budaj’s angle and he wasn’t able to recover in time for Hudler’s second attempt – a wrist shot that beat Budaj short side over his glove.

It didn’t take long for the Avalanche to regain a one goal lead when T.J. Galiardi scored short side on a shot that should have been stopped by Osgood. Adam Foote set up the play by pinching in and forcing a turnover before passing the puck off to David Jones who found Galiardi.

The Red Wings moved to 2-for-2 on the power play after John Michael Liles took a dumb cross checking penalty in the corner. It only took 8 seconds of power play time for the Wings to find the back of the net. The puck slid back to the point after Detroit won the face-off, which was to Budaj’s left. Niklas Kronwall fed the puck over to Niklas Lidstrom who skated it down the side boards looking for someone to pass to. Johan Franzen was open in the circle and Lidstrom hit him with a pass. Franzen turned and ripped a wrist shot that beat Budaj high short side just over his blocker and under the crossbar once again tying the game.

Despite out shooting the Wings 18-6 Colorado still found themselves tied at two heading into intermission.

Second Period

After hitting the post in the first period Matt Hunwick was stopped on a breakaway by Osgood who barely got his left pad on the puck while stacking the pads. This was just the beginning of a magnificent period played by the Wings goalie searching for win number 400.

The Avs dominated all but about five minutes of the period and had a lot of good chances but Osgood made some great saves. The story of the period is definitely Osgood. He kept the Wings in the game and gave them a chance to win. He injured his leg in the first period and after the barrage of 23 second period Avalanche shots he was visibly sore. This period definitely made up for the two soft goals he allowed in the first.

After finally reducing the number of players on the injured reserve list to four, a Kris Draper slap shot hit Kevin Shattenkrik right in the forehead. There was a lot of blood, but he skated off the ice under his own power to most certainly get stitches.

The shots were 23-9 in the second in favor of the Avs giving them a 39-18 advantage for the game, but they still couldn’t find a way to slip one past Ozzie in the second.

Third Period

The Avs got some good news when half way through the period Shattenkirk returned to the bench, but that feeling of joy was short lived when Lidstrom converted for the Wings third power play goal of the game.

Lidstrom gave his team the lead with a power play slap shot from the point that hit the left post before entering the net. It was their third power play goal of the game, and Lidstrom’s third point of the night.

Ten seconds after Kronwall was sent off for tripping Colorado tied the game at three. It’s worth mentioning that a combination of traditions helped lead to this goal. Paul‘s infamous wave and my scoreboard trick both assisted on the game tying goal.

Liles blasted a slapper from the point that was tipped by Paul Stastny before Osgood got a leg on it. The rebound bounced to Osgood’s left where Duchene was waiting. He quickly scooped up the loose puck and lifted it over a sprawling Osgood tying the game and forcing overtime.

Overtime

After the Avs domianted much of the first sixty minutes, it was all Wings in the extra frame. The Wings capitalized on another power play, this time with Jones in the box serving a Budaj tripping penalty. The Wings worked the puck around the zone like they had done all game on the power play and with it being a 4-on-3 they had even more room to work with. Henrik Zetterberg was along the sideboards when he passed it to the top of the cirlce where Kronwall let a one-timer fly that beat Budaj giving his team the 4-3 overtime win.

Box Score

Three Stars

1. Niklas Lidstrom – 1 Goal, 3 Assists
2. Chris Osgood – 46 Saves
3. Matt Duchene – 2 Goals

SubaCool Play of the Game

Despite feeling like I always write about him in this section I am going to do do it again. Matt Duchene’s tying goal gets tonight’s play of the game. It wasn’t that great of a play, but it came at the perfect time and tied the game with only 2:30 left to play.

Analysis

The good news is that the Avs got at least one point out of tonight’s game, the bad news is that they dominated the second period recording 23 shots and zero goals. They had many chances to put the Wings away and end the game right then and there, but they just couldn’t convert. If you take away power play goals for both teams the Avs win this game 2-0, and that’s all I have to say about that. I do give a lot of credit to Osgood who played well not only in that period, but through the entire game. I’m happy to see him join an elite club of goaltenders with 400 wins, but I wish it didn’t come at the hands of the Avs.

Highlights