Red Wings fall to Wild in OT in second of home-and-home
By Stefan Kubus –
DETROIT – At this point in the season, every point is undeniably crucial.
So while Detroit fell 3-2 at the hands of Minnesota in a lethargic rematch of Saturday afternoon’s game, the Red Wings at least managed to obtain one point in overtime.
Gustav Nyquist continued his red-hot play of late, notching a pair of goals – his 22nd and 23rd of the season and sixth and seventh in the last five games – to extend his goal streak to five games. Jimmy Howard was also solid between the pipes, turning aside 21 of 25 shots.
While Minnesota dealt with the same issue, Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said he thought his team just didn’t have any jump after playing the night before.
“For whatever reason, sometimes you just don’t have the energy,” Babcock said. “Normally in a game, you find it, but I don’t think we ever found it, to tell you the truth. We know we can be better, but a huge point.”
Nyquist said the team just wasn’t desperate enough given the fact it’s fighting for its playoff life.
“They were on us pretty much all game,” Nyquist said. “Howie was huge, he played great in net, bailed us out a lot of times and we weren’t good enough.”
For the game’s first seven minutes, Minnesota brought the offense, outshooting Detroit 8-1. But Howard also brought his own game, turning away all eight shots, including a tremendous rebound opportunity off the stick of Kyle Brodziak.
On the power play, Niklas Kronwall’s point shot was blocked by Wild defenseman Jonathan Blum in front and bounced right to Nyquist on the left side, who buried his first of the game at 13:45 to extend his goal streak to five games.
With 1:33 remaining in the opening frame, Tatar set up Nyquist for a breakaway from center ice. Coming in on Minnesota goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, Nyquist kicked his leg to fake a shot, then pulled the puck from his forehand to his backhand before sliding the puck along the ice underneath the Wild’s sprawling netminder for his 23rd of the year. The highlight-reel tally gave Nyquist his seventh goal in five games.
“Tats made a good play, blocked a shot and (the puck) got stuck in his pants and he was able to find it in his skates and chip it out for me,” Nyquist said of the goal. “I was all alone, tried to make a move and it was nice to see it go in.”
Jason Pominville cut the lead to 2-1 just 10 seconds into a Minnesota power play, a one-timer blast from the point with 8:03 remaining in the middle period.
The third period didn’t start out the way Detroit hoped. Charlie Coyle banged home a loose puck in the crease to tie the game just 4:33 in. Then two minutes later, Zach Parise recorded his 24th of the season and his team’s third unanswered goal to put the Wild up 3-2.
But Tatar’s 16th of the year knotted the game back up at three aside shortly after. Tatar cut back to the middle on a rush as Brendan Smith drove hard to the net and unleashed a wrister high past Bryzgalov’s blocker. The rush and goal really came out of nowhere as Detroit had nothing going offensively until then.
In the extra frame, Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin pulled up as he crossed the line just over two minutes in, passed to Moulson streaking toward the net and he tipped it in for the overtime winner.
Babcock said he felt Moulson never should’ve had the chance in the first place.
“I would’ve like to see a box out on the tip guy who scored the goal at the end. We didn’t get that done.”
However, the lone point boosted Detroit into the first wild card spot ahead of the slumping Maple Leafs – both are tied with 80 points, but Detroit has two games in hand.
After huge wins over Toronto, Pittsburgh and Minnesota in the first of the back-to-back games this past week, Detroit will get a day off Monday before heading to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets Tuesday night, a team they’re directly vying with for a playoff spot.
“All in all, the way I look at it, we had a great week here,” Babcock said. “We get a day of rest tomorrow, then get ourselves energize, get to Columbus and play like we can.”