Now we get to find out what the Detroit Red Wings are really all about.
The Wings will have center Luke Glendening back for Game 5 of their Stanley Cup opening-round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday at Amalie Arena, but will their mojo come back with him?
His hand and thumb cut in a scrum along the boards late in the third period of Game 4 with Detroit leading 2-0, minus Glendening the Lightning rallied for a 3-2 overtime victory, all of the goals scored by the line of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, the unit that Glendening’s line with Drew Miller and Landon Ferraro was checking into the ground up until that point.
“Obviously disappointed in the way things ended,… Glendening said Friday. “I thought we played a good game yesterday. We have a lot of things to build on.
“Now it’s a three-game series, so it’s the first one to four.…
The Wings put forth a happy face as they talked about their epic fail Thursday, exhibiting bravado publicly and insisting that since they stole Game 1 behind the 44-save performance of goalie Petr Mrazek, the series is exactly where it should be after four games.
“I think the most encouraging thing is we keep getting better and better,… Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “I thought we didn’t start good. Our first two games in Tampa weren’t anywhere near the way we want to be.
“In Game 3 we got better and in Game 4 we took another step. Looks like we’re getting better and better.…
After squandering a lead and being so close to owning a 3-1 stranglehold on the series, the true test of what the Wings are made of will be measured in how they respond to their disastrous finish to Game 4.
“Obviously it’s a shot in the gut anytime you are in a situation where you think are in a real a good spot and suddenly it goes away that quick,… Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “We played a real good game and in five minutes we end up losing the game, so that’s hard. So you get in the flight and by the time you get here you’ve been feeling sorry for yourself and you’ve got to get regrouped.
“I’ve been fortunate, I’ve coached a long time, been around a lot of championship teams. Every championship team I’ve ever been involved with goes through adversity. What you do is you embrace the adversity and it allows you to get better. Without it, you never, ever win in the end.
So to me here’s some adversity, let’s dig in, let’s understand our plan, let’s understand how well we played Games 3 and 4. We were better. Maybe Game 4 was our best game. So to me that’s a good sign.
“I believe the series should be 2-2 and that’s where it’s at. So you earn what you got and let’s keep going.…
Friendly Fire? It appears the skate that cut Glendening may have been from one of his teammates.
Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser believes he might have stepped on Glendening’s right hand during the melee along the boards that led to minor penalties to Glendening and Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman.
“I don’t know,… Glendening said. “I got jumped after the bump on Johnson and I don’t know what happened after that.
“There are skates everywhere. I could have been anyone. I don’t know whose it was.…
Glendening was close to a return to the ice when Johnson netted the winner 2:25 into OT.
“Yeah, I was almost ready,… Glendening said.
Shooting Blanks Six Tampa Bay players have at least 10 shots on goal in the series, led by Steven Stamkos (15) and Johnson (14).
None of the Red Wings have 10. Pavel Datsyuk and Gustav Nyquist share the team lead with nine apiece.
Pulkkinen Down The Wings arrived in Tampa Bay without the AHL’s leading goal scorer. Right-winger Teemu Pulkkinen, who hasn’t played in the series, was assigned to AHL Grand Rapids, which is slated to begin the playoffs Saturday at Toronto against the Marlies.
Despite playing 31 games for Detroit this season, Pulkkinen scored 34 goals in 46 games with Grand Rapids to win the Willie Marshall Trophy as the AHL’s top goal scorer.
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