Red Wings beat Oilers in Teemu Pulkkinen’s NHL debut
By Stefan Kubus –
DETROIT – In Teemu Pulkkinen’s NHL debut, the Red Wings pulled out a shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers at Joe Louis Arena Friday night, 2-1.
Riley Sheahan scored in regulation for Detroit, who improves to , while goaltender Jimmy Howard turned away 21 shots in the win.
“We played for a win and when you play here, it’s all about winning, so the two points is the most important thing and it’s nice to get the win in the first game,” Pulkkinen said.
Head coach Mike Babcock said Pulkkinen looked good, but still certainly has things to work on.
“He’s got to take care of the puck a little bit better, but he can sure shoot it, he had good energy and he can skate, so I thought that was positive,” Babcock said.
Pulkkinen is one of three players in Red Wings history to have been born and raised in Finland. Ville Leino and Valterri Filppula were the other two. The latest Finn to don the Winged Wheel had a pair of booming one-timers on a power play playing the point with Danny DeKeyser, but said he still sees plenty of room for growth.
“I know I can do better, but I just try to shoot the puck and make smart plays, not turnover pucks, just simple,” Pulkkinen said.
At the 13:53 mark of the opening period, Tomas Tatar pulled a brilliant spin move as he skated behind the net to get the puck out in front to Sheahan. The move pulled Oilers netminder Viktor Fasth off the post and allowed Sheahan to bury his fifth goal of the season.
“It was an unbelievable pass,” Sheahan said.
Though he didn’t get on the scoresheet, Pulkkinen had a big hip check on Edmonton’s David Perron just inside the Red Wings’ zone in the second period that earned the applause of the hometown crowd.
“Maybe that was my first hit of the year,” Pulkkinen said.
In the third period, a turnover by Brendan Smith landed right on the tape of Oilers forward Ryan Smyth right in the slot, and the veteran forward buried a shot over Howard’s glove to tie the game, 1-1.
Martin Marincin’s delay-of-game penalty just 1:21 into OT appeared to be costly for Oil Country, but Detroit could not convert on the 4-on-3 power play. Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins used his timeout halfway through the Detroit power play to rest his penalty killers, which even gave Detroit’s top unit a rest, but it ultimately didn’t make a difference.
“We’ve just got to focus on getting shots through and getting active at the net,” Sheahan said of the team’s power play. “It comes in waves, and right now, maybe we’re not getting the shots through that we want, but I think it’ll come.”
In the shootout, Howard stopped all three shooters – including Jordan Eberle, who was 5-for-5 on the season heading into the game – and Tatar scored in the third round to seal the victory.
“I knew he was going backhand,” Howard said of Eberle. “A lot of times I’ve seen him, that’s his go-to, to score on the backhand, so I just tried to wait until he made the move.”
With the win, Detroit ties Philadelphia with 73 points, but Philadelphia retains the second wild card spot because it has five more regulation or overtime wins (ROW) than the Red Wings.
“We were able to get that extra point tonight, and that’s all that matters,” Howard said.