Kronwall’s strange goal, Tatar’s shootout winner lift Red Wings

By Stefan Kubus –

DETROIT – For a team that’s been on the unlucky end of numerous breaks throughout the 2013 portion of the season, the Red Wings got one to go their way Saturday night against Los Angeles in their first 2014 game at Joe Louis Arena.

A late, controversial goal that shouldn’t have counted sparked Detroit’s gritty, spirited victory against one of the Western Conference’s top teams. For the second-straight Saturday night, Detroit defeated the Kings, this time by a 3-2 final in a shootout – only the second victory of its kind in nine attempts this season for the Wings. Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall lit the lamp in regulation for Detroit, while Tomas Tatar scored the winner in the shootout.

“I’m so happy we won and we won in a shootout and a home game, so obviously I was happy I scored and probably made up for the Winter Classic attempt,” Tatar said. “I think the fans deserved it, the team deserved it. We just played really well.”

It was Kronwall’s goal that proved to not only be the turning point, but also the cause of head-scratching everywhere as to how it counted on the scoresheet.

With Kronwall in the box and 2:15 to play in the third period, Jeff Carter scored a rebound goal to put the Kings up 2-1. Fortunately for the Red Wings’ 33-year-old Swedish defenseman, he redeemed himself shortly thereafter.

With 26.1 seconds to play, Los Angeles was up 2-1, but Detroit held a 6-on-4 man-advantage with Howard pulled and Dwight King in the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck. On the power play, Zetterberg fed Kronwall at the point, whose slap shot was deflected up into the netting by a Kings penalty killer.

But somehow, none of the officials saw where the puck went and therefore didn’t blow the whistle when it hit the netting. When the puck came back down from the air, it bounced off Kings goalie Jonathan Quick’s back and into the goal.

Despite the electric celebration from both the Red Wings and their fans, the replay clearly showed the puck hit the netting. However, since the whistle was never blown, it wasn’t a reviewable play. Therefore, Kronwall’s fifth of the year remarkably stood as a good goal – as was the call on the ice – that kept his team alive.

“We couldn’t see [the puck] from where we were,” Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said of the play. “I mean, the referees obviously didn’t see it, so they didn’t know. As you know, you get breaks against you a lot, we’ve had a number called back this year and that was a break we got. If you work hard all the time, you get breaks.”

In the second period, at 9:06, L.A. defenseman Slava Voynov chipped a puck to Mike Richards from the point. Richards stepped in from the boards to the top of the right circle and wired a wrist shot home off the side of Howard’s head and in to open the scoring for a 1-0 lead.

But just 41 seconds later, Zetterberg took a centering feed from Gustav Nyquist and was left uncovered in the slot. Making no mistake, the Red Wings captain buried the puck in a virtually empty net for the 1-1 tie.

With just over eight minutes remaining in the second frame, Kings forward Kyle Clifford lost an edge and slid into Howard and his net. With no whistle blown, Howard held Clifford down on the ice. Once the whistle was finally blown, Richards took exception to Howard’s act, and he and Howard roughed each other up a little – each received two-minute minors for the skirmish – before Red Wings forward Luke Glendening (Grand Rapids) quickly stepped in to aid his goalie.

“I thought Howie got fired up so good emotionally, but had good emotional control, too,” Babcock said. “He’s been playing strong each and every night for us. The last time he had a tough one was San Jose, and he knows with our lineup right now, he’s got to be a star and he was.”

During the ensuing TV timeout, Howard skated to the bench and crossed paths with his masked counterpart and future Team USA teammate Quick. The two exchanged words and slight shoves to ignite a minor scrum, but nothing came of it ultimately aside from the initial roughing minors to Richards and Howard.

“We were just discussing what we were going to do over in Sochi together, who we were going to bring,” Howard wryly said of the confrontation. “I told him I’m bringing my parents and my sister and I asked him who he was bringing. It was a good discussion.”

Carter scored a rebound goal on the power play to put Los Angeles up 2-1 with just 2:15 to play in the third period.

But for the second time in the tilt, the Red Wings responded right back with a goal of their own.

With L.A.’s Dwight King in the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck and Howard pulled, Kronwall’s strange goal propelled Detroit into overtime, where neither side gave much up.

Tatar was the only player to score in the shootout to cap off the victory, as he continued his strong performance against L.A. this season – he tallied a goal and an assist in last Saturday’s meeting.

“I thought tonight we battled hard,” Kronwall said. “I put our team in a bad position there taking that late penalty for no reason really and they found a way to score. We ended up getting a lucky break there. As a whole, we played a pretty good game.”