Hard to believe it’s been nearly eight years since Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm broke in as Detroit Red Wings.
“Him and I came up together,… Abdelkader recalled of the 2007-08 NHL campaign, the most recent one in which the Red Wings captured the Stanley Cup.
“It feels like it was just yesterday we were coming in as rookies. Now we’re kind of considered veterans on the team.…
A pair of grizzled veterans who combined to break the backs and the hearts of the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday at Joe Louis Arena.
Helm scored twice, including the game winner and Abdelkader knotted the count with a third-period power-play goal as the Wings rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Canadiens.
After missing on a pair of first-period breakaways, Helm proved third time lucky when he beat Habs goalie Dustin Tokarski when he was in all alone again in the second period.
“I think that the last five or 10 games maybe I found my step,… said Helm, who missed almost the entire training camp and all of the pre season after suffering a concussion and shoulder injury on the first day of camp. “I haven’t been successful on the score sheet but I knew things were coming.
“Hopefully this will give me a little bit more confidence and keep things rolling personally and help the team win.…
Helm now has three goals on the season, but prior to Thursday, his only tally was into an empty net.
“That was my first goal that I scored against a goalie in the net this year, so I was pretty happy about it,… Helm said. “I had a couple of chances at first, even in the second before that where pucks weren’t going in.
“I think it’s a confidence thing for me. Chances are going to happen. I don’t think I’d get down before but definitely now I know that it’s going to go in. I’ve just got to keep taking my cracks at it, get shots on net and the puck will find its way in.…
Skating in recent games alongside Pavel Datsyuk and Brad Richards, chances are that chances will continue to arrive more frequently on Helm’s stick.
“Yeah, those are pretty good players who’ve been around the league for a while,… Helm said. “There’s quite a bit of games between them, too. They’re experienced and they know how to play the game, so I’ve just got to play hard, find them, let them find me and things will work out well.…
Abdelkader used another of his body parts to score, as Henrik Zetterberg’s pass banked into the net off Abdelkader’s left skate.
“I turned my skate,… Abdelkader said. “I wasn’t trying to kick it. I didn’t see any replays on it but I didn’t feel that I kicked it in.…
Closing In The result left the Wings just four points in arrears to Montreal for top spot in the Atlantic Division and holding a game in hand, but they weren’t about to get excited.
“It doesn't really matter right now,… Zetterberg said. “It's a long way to go. We know we're playing well, if we're playing like this we're going to get our points and then we'll be there in the end.…
Added goalie Petr Mrazek, who made 23 saves, including four breakaway saves: “We still have 50, 51 games, I think, left, so it’s too early to look at it.…
Detroit coach Jeff Blashill, like Zetterberg, felt it’s best that they focus on taking care of their own business and not study what other teams are up to on a nightly basis.
“Confidence comes from winning, for sure, because winning breeds confidence,… Blashill said. “More important is it gives us seven points in our (five-game) segment with one game in hand, so we’ve got a chance to get nine, which is the way I like to judge ourselves.
“The standings are things you can’t control. You can’t control other teams’ movements. We can control how many points we get in each segment.…
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