The Detroit Red Wings felt that they stole a point when they grabbed a 2-1 overtime victory from the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
Two nights later, the Wings felt like they gift-wrapped two points for the Calgary Flames.
The Wings squandered a 2-0 lead and fell 5-2 to the Flames Friday at Joe Louis Arena.
“We stole two points the other night and today it might have gone different,… Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “We actually had better looks and that but their goalie was good and the bottom line is we leave here disappointed because we didn’t do our job.…
The Flames played Thursday at Boston, winning 4-3 in a shootout and the gameplan for Detroit against a team playing on consecutive nights was to come out strong and set an early tone. Things seemed to be falling into place when Justin Abdelkader potted a pair of quick goals.
“I think we had those couple of goals and then sat back and got sloppy and they got back in the game,… Abdelkader said. “They found energy and they found ways to create turnovers and get pucks in our net.
“We did come out strong like we wanted to for the first five, 10 minutes. We knew they played last night so we wanted to establish our game and I thought we did a good job of that. Then we didn’t have enough sustained pressure.
“We turned the puck over too much, kind of similar to the last game with New York when we made some mistakes at the blue-lines. (The Flames are) a team that skates really well, especially their back end. They found ways to create chances and when they did, they scored on them.…
Filling His Hat? With two goals just 8:12 into the game, Abdelkader admitted there was a brief notion that perhaps he might be well positioned to record his second NHL hat-trick.
“You hope for that, but at the same time you just keep playing,… said Abdelkader, who has scored a career-high 16 goals this season. “It’s in the back of your mind but you don’t worry about that.
“You just try to produce as a line and as a team. I was fortunate to get two there.…
Passing The Chemistry Test The trio of Abdelkader on the left wing, captain Henrik Zetterberg at center and newcomer Erik Cole continued to click in their second game together, combining for both Detroit goals.
“I thought our line did a lot of good things out there. Z made some good plays, Cole stayed on the puck,… Abdelkader said.
The first goal came when Abdelkader got behind the Calgary defense and Zetterberg found him with a tape-to-tape stretch pass that he launched from the Detroit goal line and was accepted by Abdelkader in stride just before he reached the Calgary blue-line.
“Abby was all by himself on the far blue-line,… Zetterberg said. “I don’t really know what happened, how he got that open.…
Abdelkader explained how he went into stealth mode and OK, how he cheated into the neutral zone while the puck was still in Detroit’s end.
“Originally I was trying to get out of the zone on the strong side for Z and the puck went behind the net,… Abdelkader said. “I kind of looped back toward the middle and I saw their D pressing up and decided to stay out because we had full possession and Z made a great play.…
It was Zetterberg’s cross-crease pass that Abdelkader finished on a power play for Detroit’s other goal.
“That’s the kind of player he is,… Abdelkader said of Zetterberg. “He skates with his head up. He’s really smart and he kind of knows the play he’s going to make before he makes it. He’s kind of thinking ahead of his opponents out there.
“I was kind of fortunate on both of those plays. He made great passes. That’s what he does. He’s a great player. He’s our leader.…
Zetterberg can already feel the line getting to know each other’s tendencies.
“It is fun to play with him,… Zetterberg said of Cole. “Obviously it’s really fresh. Maybe we found each other a little bit better than in our first game.
“It’s going to be fun here to create some chemistry with him.…
Howard Takes Heat A couple of pucks leaked through Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard and that led to questions about his performance, questions that Babcock didn’t care to hear.
“The puck went in, but the other night when he stood on his head and got us points we don’t assess him that night, so we do it all together here, that’s how we do it,… Babcock said, defending his goalie. “We all get ready together and today we didn’t do it good enough. Anytime you don’t win we look at everybody, coaches, too. We didn’t win, so we’ve got to do a better job.…
Not Enough Men The type of night it was for the Wings was evident late in the game when they pulled Howard but went about 30 seconds with just five skaters on the ice.
“I didn’t really even realize until (the next) faceoff but obviously it was miscommunication,… Zetterberg said.
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