Pavelski, Sharks come from behind to defeat Red Wings in Detroit (with photos)

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – With a 3-1 lead, things looked good for Detroit halfway through the game.

But the second half of the game is what made the difference, as the San Jose Sharks scored three times in the latter half of the second period to take a 5-3 decision over Filip Zadina and the Red Wings. Sharks captain Joe Pavelski netted a hat trick in the contest.

It was a difficult loss for the Hockeytown faithful, as they watched the Wings falter in the last 40 minutes against one of the Western Conference’s best teams after a dominating first half of the game.

Photos by Michael Caples/MiHockey

“Very frustrating,” Justin Abdelkader said after the contest. “I thought we got pucks to the net in the first, did good things, got some goals, but obviously they’re a good team and you can’t let your foot off the gas, because they’re going to come at you. It’s disappointing from the first period we had and the pressure we put on them.”

Detroit is now 2-6-2 in the last 10 games, and 23-31-9 on the season.

At just 3:46 of the opening frame, San Jose defenseman Tim Heed threw a puck on goal that hit Michael Rasmussen’s skate and in the Detroit goal for an early 1-0 advantage. Detroit challenged for goalie interference, but the goal stood.

Detroit responded twice late in the period to take a 2-1 lead off the ice after 20 minutes on goals from Darren Helm and Gustav Nyquist.

Dylan Larkin picked up a helper on the Nyquist goal to give him his 61st point of the season in his 62nd game, two points shy of his career-best 63, which he set in a full 82-game season last year.

With 12 minutes to play in the middle period and his team having an extra attacker on a delayed Sharks penalty, Justin Abdelkader found Mike Green sneaking in from the point with a great cross-slot pass. Green one-timed the feed past San Jose netminder Martin Jones to make it a 3-1 lead for the Wings.

With 6:10 to play, Brent Burns pulled the Sharks to within one with a wrister from the point that beat Bernier. Burns became the first defenseman to record his 70th point prior to his 65th team game since Ray Bourque, during the 1993-94 campaign (16-55—71 in 61 GP).

And just two minutes later, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski tipped a puck home as he spun around and redirected a point shot along the ice past the reaching glove of Bernier. Pavelski then added another goal less than a minute following his first goal to put the Sharks on top late in the period, a brilliant tip at the side of the goal off a point shot. from Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

“I thought overall, we made it too hard on ourselves,” Niklas Kronwall said. “We kept giving the puck back to them, and they’re a good team. They’ve got a lot of really talented players who can create stuff out of nothing. Their power-play goal, bouncing and it’s in the net, then the tip from Pavelski, sometimes you just tip your hat, that’s one hell of a play. But we’ve got to be better the last 40 minutes.”

That lead held up through the entire third period to give San Jose the win over Detroit, as Pavelski capped off his hat trick with an empty-net marker.