No one’s been a harsher critic of his work this season than Niklas Kronwall.
“I’ve got to be better,… has been a constant refrain from veteran Detroit Red Wings defenseman throughout the early portion of the NHL season.
Friday, Kronwall was better, and the Wings were better for it.
A 4-3 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Joe Louis Arena began with a punishing Kronwall hit – being Kronwalled they call it in these parts – on Oilers forward Mark Letestu.
The night ended 26 seconds into the extra session. On a two-on-one break, Kronwall took Dylan Larkin’s feed and snapped a quick wrist shot past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot, ending the game with his first goal of the season.
“Larks made a real nice play,… Kronwall said. “Held on to it, held on to it and made a nice pass over.
“I just tried to put it on net and luckily it went in.…
Luck had nothing with Kronwall driving his shoulder into Letestu’s chest while he was in full flight with the puck, spilling the Oilers’ forward to the ice and touching off a brouhaha that resulted in a roughing penalty to Edmonton’s Matt Hendricks when he went after Kronwall.
“I was on the ice and couldn’t really see,… Detroit forward Tomas Tatar said. “But it did not sound really good. So obviously the whole league knows he’s doing it and he’s pretty good at it.…
As to what Kronwall sees before he connects on one of his trademark bodychecks that sends an opponent into orbit, he finds it difficult to describe.
“Everything just goes so fast,… Kronwall said. “You see a guy with his head down and you’re just trying to separate him from the puck.…
The punishing hit, the first of that caliber since he was suspended for taking out Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series, can be taken as a sign that Kronwall is feeling good about his game again.
“The big hit was great,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “He's pretty special when it comes to that. I think it's something that it's good to see him do it after the suspension last year and for him to get that back in his arsenal. Then obviously the goal at the end is big.
“I think Kronner's played real good here the last, I don't know, five, six, seven, eight games. He's done a real good job. When he's playing the way he's capable of, I think he's an elite defenseman in the league. I think he's a one because he's good offensively, he's good defensively and he's a big-time winner so good for him.…
Let It Slip On the downside, the Wings allowed another third-period lead to escape them, not to mention a two-goal lead that also evaporated in the second frame.
“I think we’ve seen that over the course already,… Kronwall said. “This wasn’t the first night. We’ve got to find a way to get that extra security marker, so to speak. It’s hard. You’re trying to find goals, it doesn’t go in and then all of a sudden it’s in the back of your net. You’ve got to find a way to play 60 minutes.
“All in all, we dug deep and found a way to get two points.…
PK Confusion Andrej Sekera’s power-play goal which pulled Edmonton even at 2-2 saw him left wide open in the high slot while the four Red Wing penalty killers were all at or below the Detroit goal line.
Blashill explained that while their strategy on the play was mostly sound, their execution left much to be desired.
“The way most teams do it in the league is you try to outnumber, so you send three guys into that pile (behind the net),… Blashill said. Our fourth guy was probably a little too close there, he should have been backed off a little bit.
“If you send three guys into that pile, you have to win the puck and we didn't win the puck. It's a little bit easier in the corner than it is right behind the net.
“We have no-set mentality. We don't want the other team to set up in the penalty kill, we want to spend as little time in our zone as possible. That's part of it, and sometimes you have to live and die with it.
“We made a little bit of a mistake off it, we need to win the puck and we were probably just a little too low.…
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