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Wings continue homestand with thrilling OT win over Rangers

MiHockey Staff
(Photo courtesy of Dave Reginek/DRW)
(Photo courtesy of Dave Reginek/DRW)

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – The Red Wings reminded everyone that hockey is a 60-minute game in their Saturday-afternoon win at Joe Louis Arena over the New York Rangers.

The Rangers saw Henrik Lundqvist and Rick Nash return to the lineup, and though the former was stellar in net, the Red Wings came out on top in overtime, 3-2, to win their second in a row on this current three-game homestand. Darren Helm potted a pair of goals, including the overtime winner. Brad Richards tied the game with 31.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Petr Mrazek picked up his 26th win of the season, stopping 23 of 25 shots.

“Tonight felt like we were doing a lot of good things, and we were down a lot of the game, but you have to play a full 60 and stay with it and don’t break away from the game plan,” Richards said. “It’s a good sign that, after a tough road trip there, we come back and show some resiliency against some adversity here.”

Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill echoed the veteran’s thoughts, calling the tying goal a “big moment.”

“It was big, I mean it was a big moment for sure, can’t say I was unbelievably even-keeled at that point because it was a big goal, there’s no question,” Blashill said of the tying goal. “I thought it was good to see it go in because in some ways I thought we deserved that. I was real happy with the way we played.”

Lundqvist, meanwhile, stopped 40 of 43 in his return and was his usual self, as Richards said. Richards was a former teammate of Lundqvist in New York from 2011-14.

“He’s a great goalie, a lot of big saves tonight. I was fortunate to get him where he was at a position at the end, but you’ve just got to keep peppering him.”

The Wings outshot the Rangers, 15-7, in the opening frame, but it was the Rangers who skated off with the 1-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes.

With just 48.5 seconds remaining, Derek Stepan potted his 16th of the season, a rebound tally after Mrazek stretched out to deny Chris Kreider just seconds prior.

Despite the teams swapping scoring chances in the middle frame, that lone goal carried over as the only marker heading into the third period.

In that second period, the Wings lost defenseman Niklas Kronwall to a lower-body injury. He did not return to the game and there was no immediate update available after the game. Blashill said he would be evaluated Sunday.

At the 4:28 mark of the third period, the Red Wings drew even on Helm’s ninth of the season, a quick shot that beat Lundqvist in the corner on the far, glove side. Luke Glendening and Danny DeKeyser drew the helpers.

At 15:33 of the period, the Rangers regained the one-goal lead on Kreider’s tip-in power-play goal off a Keith Yandle point shot, just seconds after the Red Wings had a chance to clear, but Stepan batted the puck down to keep it in at the blue line.

With Eric Staal in the box late, the Red Wings pulled Mrazek for a 6-on-4 power play. The Rangers hit the post on the empty net and just missed wide on another chance.

And then with 31.8 seconds to play, Richards came through with a clutch game-tying goal to send things to overtime. Henrik Zetterberg took a shot on goal and Richards came in and buried the rebound at the back door.

“Heard a lot of people telling me to shoot for five or six seconds, but there was so much traffic, I couldn’t get anything through, so I just waited for Z to pop out and he got something through – well not technically through, it still hit Abby – but I kind of snuck back there and everybody was looking at Z I think, so I just snuck in there, the puck came to me and those are fun when you see an open net,” Richards said.

In overtime, with two minutes remaining in the extra frame, Helm tipped home a Pavel Datsyuk shot while screening Lundqvist in front.

“We really dug in deep tonight, amazing job to stick with it even going down that late in the game,” Helm said. “To find a way to battle back, get bodies in front of the net, shoot and clean up an ugly one and it was just a nice feeling to see that OT goal go in.”

The Red Wings host the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday night before heading to Philadelphia Tuesday.

“We lost three in a row there and our leadership really stepped up and really took charge, carried us to two big wins, so it’s an exciting time now, but we’ve just got to keep moving forward, keep progressing as the season goes on,” Wings forward Dylan Larkin said.

(Photo courtesy of Dave Reginek/DRW)
(Photo courtesy of Dave Reginek/DRW)