The Detroit Red Wings keep preaching that catch-up hockey is losing hockey, and yet they continue to defy the odds.
Rallying from a 3-0 first-period deficit to defeat the Buffalo Sabres Sunday at Joe Louis Arena, the Wings improved to 7-3-1 this season when trailing after the first period.
“I don't know the answer to that one but it's nice to see that when we start bad, we can find a way to get back,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “That's all it is.”
The Wings also fell behind 3-1 to the Sabres on Dec. 23 at the JLA and charged back to win 6-3.
“There are going to be certain nights when world-class athletes are going to out-skill us and we believe that's what happened,” Buffalo coach Ted Nolan said.
Detroit also rallied from a 4-1 deficit to take a 5-4 shootout decision from the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 28. The Wings have displayed a never-say-die knack all season long, rarely suffering one-sided setbacks.
“There's not many games that we've played this year that we haven't been in the game,” Zetterberg said. “We showed that again. Even though we dug ourselves a pretty big hole from the start, we found a way to come back.
“It's obviously nice to win.”
After Sunday’s uninspiring start, Detroit coach Mike Babcock opted to shuffle his lines, splitting up his ace pair of Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.
“I did it, but really what I’m doing in between periods is trying to find energy,” Babcock explained. “You do something different to get them going. (Darren) Helm seemed to give Pav some energy. I thought when we flipped Z into the middle he really got jump. I thought our guys really dug in. The next thing you knew we were back in the game.”
Babcock felt the credit for the comeback came not from his line shuffling, but from the pride of the veterans in the Detroit room.
“The biggest that happens in reality is not changing lines, it’s them coming in here and being upset with themselves and making the decision that they were going to play like Red Wings and getting out there and doing things right,” Babcock said.
“I just thought leadership-wise we’re fortunate with (Zetterberg) Pav and Kronner (Niklas Kronwall) in here that things are looked after pretty good. That doesn’t mean things are going to be great all the time, but they’re determined people, they do things right and they set a good example.
“I thought great leadership from those key guys was important. You’ve got to give the guys a lot of credit. This is two huge points for us. It was one that could have slipped away but we didn’t let that happen.”
As to the puzzling slow starts that have often plagued the team this season, Babcock remains confounded.
“I don’t know,” Babcock said, though he did think there was a root cause for the latest hole dug by the Wings.
“Obviously we were embarrassed. That was as bad as we’ve been. It wasn’t totally a surprise to be. This was a trap game. We’ve played two real good teams in a row (St. Louis and Nashville) and found ways to win.
“It’s a back to back, so you don’t have time to get in here and get organized and feeling good about yourself. You don’t prepare like you should. You don’t compete like you should and the next thing you know, it’s the NHL, they’ve got real players and you’re down 3-0.”
Zetterberg’s Big Night
Not only did he produce his first hat-trick since Feb. 1, 2013 and his second four-point game of the season in Sunday’s win, Zetterberg became the first Wing to score three goals in a period since Johan Franzen did it against the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 2, 2011.
As well, Zetterberg improved his career totals as a Wing to 761 points, moving past Norm Ullman (758) for seventh on the team’s all-time scoring list.
Babcock was just happy to see his captain lighting some red lamps.
“Z’s had some opportunities lately and hasn’t buried them, so it’s great to see him wire it into the net,” Babcock said. “It gives you confidence.
“When you’re a scorer, you like to score. It gives you energy.”
Second Star
With five goals and two assists in three games last week, Detroit left-winger Tomas Tatar, who is riding a four-game goal-scoring streak, was named the NHL’s second star of the week.
Tatar (21) and right-winger Gustav Nyquist (17) are 1-2 on the team in goals.
“Both Tats and Nyquist are scoring a lot of goals for us,” Zetterberg said. “It's fun to see. It seems like when one gets one, the other one is not long after, scoring too. It's good.
“They're working hard, both of them, and it's well-deserved.”
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