Kindl’s overtime strike gives Red Wings’ 2-1 win in Toronto Friday night

By Tyler Barnes –

It was an exciting night in Toronto as the Red Wings picked up a much needed two points in front of the 2015 Hockey Hall of Fame induction class—and spoiled Mike Babcock’s first home game against his former club in the process.

Jakub Kindl scored the game-winning goal in overtime when he skated end to end and beat goaltender James Reimer over his blocker to put the Red Wings in the win column.

Henrik Zetterberg gave the Wings the lead at 16:21 of the first period when he skated across the Leafs blue line and threw a seemingly harmless shot on goal that Reimer may have been screened on. The puck trickled behind him and into the net.

After the shaky start, however, Reimer rebounded, stopping three shots in the second period and nine in the third.

Petr Mrazek, on the other hand, was tested often—and he was up to the task the whole night. The Wings’ netminder faced 33 shots in the contest, turning aside 32 of them.

Halfway through the third period, Mrazek made his best save of the night when Joffrey Lupul took a pass in the slot and fired a shot on net. Mrazek made an acrobatic save, reaching out with his glove to rob Lupul.

With just over a minute remaining in the third, Alexy Marchenko lost his stick in a scrum in front of the net. While he tried to receive a stick from a teammate, Dion Phaneuf found a lose puck and batted it up and over Mrazek to tie the game.

As they went to overtime, the teams traded changes before Jakub Kindl led a rush up ice. The Wings’ defenseman created a two-on-one opportunity and fired a shot over the blocker of Reimer.

The Red Wings return home Sunday in a matinee game against the high-scoring Dallas Stars.