Zetterberg hat trick fuels 6-3 comeback victory over Sabres (with photos)

Photos by Kaileigh Brammer/MiHockey

By @SKubus –

DETROIT – Early on, Detroit looked poised to drop its second decision to the Buffalo Sabres this season, something that hasn’t happened since the 1989-90 campaign.

The Red Wings were down 3-0 after 20 minutes, a polar opposite start compared to Saturday night’s tilt against Nashville. But Detroit rallied to score six goals, led by captain Henrik Zetterberg’s hat trick. Goaltender Thomas McCollum recorded his first NHL victory, relieving Petr Mrazek after he allowed three goals on seven shots in the first period.

Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar and Drew Miller also scored for the Red Wings, who improved to 26-11-9 on the season.

“You’ve got to give the guys a lot of credit,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “This is two huge points for us, one that could’ve slipped away, but we didn’t let that happen.”

Tom McCollum talks about his first NHL win

For the second-straight game, Nyquist and Tatar each scored a goal, as the blossoming forwards continue to pace the Red Wings offense on a nightly basis.

“Both Tats and Nyquist are scoring a lot of goals for us, and it’s fun to see,” Zetterberg said. “It seems like when one gets one, the other one is not long after scoring, too, so it’s good. They’re working hard, both of them, and it’s well-deserved.”

As mentioned, it was Buffalo who drew first blood and then some.Drew Stafford potted his seventh of the season at 1:46 of the first period on a feed from Cody Hodgson as the Sabres capitalized on a sloppy Red Wings turnover to open the scoring.

At 10:21, Tyler Ennis extended the Sabres’ lead to 2-0 after taking a low shot from a bad angle along the boards that squeaked through Petr Mrazek.

Chris Stewart’s power-play tally at 13:37, 11 seconds into the man-advantage, was enough to chase Mrazek in favor of Tom McCollum, who made only his second NHL appearance. The first was a relief appearance against St. Louis during the 2008-09 season where he was later replaced by the original starting netminder, Joey MacDonald. Its safe to say this outing went a lot smoother than that one.

“I didn’t really have any time to think about it,” McCollum said of entering the game. “Honestly, I didn’t even see the third goal go in. I was looking down at the face-off sheet and then I heard everybody kind of groan and Babs was telling me to go in, so I didn’t really have time to think about it. Just get your stuff, get out there and make the best of it.”

The Red Wings left the ice after the opening frame knowing they played a lousy period of hockey, and returned to the ice a refreshed team, with an effort opposite to that of when the game began.

“We just said we’ve got to hit the restart button and start playing,” Zetterberg said. “They were a lot hungrier and won all the battles. We knew we had to play better to turn it around, and obviously we got a good start there, and had 40 minutes to turn it around.”

Early into the second period, Detroit scored 11 seconds into its own power-play, as Nyquist potted his 18th of the year, batting a puck out of mid-air. Just prior to the goal, Zetterberg’s point shot hit Buffalo defenseman Tyson Strachan in the face. Strachan was down and bleeding badly on the play. He did skate off under his own power, though, fortunately, and made his return shortly thereafter.

Miller cut the Sabres’ lead to 3-2 shortly after, having fired a turnaround shot from the high slot that beat Enroth through traffic. And Tatar’s 21st of the season tied things up at 10:08 of the middle frame, as he jumped on a loose puck on the slot and simply roofed it past Enroth.

And after a lethargic opening 20 minutes, Detroit climbed all the way back into the game over the course of the next 20.

With a delayed penalty coming to Buffalo, Zetterberg scored his 12th of the season on a rebound in front of Enroth to give Detroit its first lead of the night. And just 3:06 later, Nyquist found Zetterberg in the slot for his second of the game, a power-play marker, to give the Red Wings a huge insurance marker to make it a 5-3 contest.

While Ennis recorded his second goal of the tilt to cut the Sabres’ deficit to one at 8:31 of the period, Zetterberg completed his hat trick with 8:01 remaining in the game to regain the two-goal lead for Detroit and cap the game off with the 6-4 final.

“I think it’s been a while, so it’s always nice to see the puck go in,” Zetterberg said of his hat trick.

Babcock said Mrazek has been great, but that his poor outing was just a byproduct of being an inexperienced NHL netminder, something that will naturally improve over time.

“Young players, when things go good for you, sometimes the next night they don’t go quite as good because the preparation, the everyday stuff is hard,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “The veterans learn how to do it. Obviously, for Pete, things have gone real good for him, and then didn’t go as good tonight, but good for Thomas McCollum. He didn’t expect to be in the net, and he gets his first NHL win.”

The Red Wings next host Minnesota Tuesday night before the NHL All-Star break begins.