It wasn’t 80s night at American Airlines Center, but it might as well have been.
In a game that was reminiscent of the wide-open, high-scoring, defense-be-damned 1980s, the Detroit Red Wings rallied from 4-2 and 6-4 deficits for a 7-6 win over the Dallas Stars Saturday on Niklas Kronwall’s goal 36 seconds into overtime.
“Every once in a while they throw one of those retro parties and you dress like it was the 80s,… Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “That’s what this was tonight.
“I thought it was the (Edmonton) Oilers playing the Winnipeg Jets in the 1980s. That’s what I used to watch. They used to race to seven.…
Zetterberg Hurt Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg did not return for the third period with what the Wings termed an upper-body injury.
“That’s a good question,… Babcock said of what happened to Zetterberg. “I don’t have a clue on that. We’ll just monitor him tomorrow and see what happens.…
During the second period, Zetterberg clashed with Stars captain Jamie Benn and took a shot to the head from Benn.
“I don’t really know that,… Babcock said. “I didn’t talk to the guys. Let’s just say he’s got an upper-body injury and I don’t know if he’s fine tomorrow or not playing tomorrow.
“We’ll see tomorrow. We’ll practice tomorrow and play the following day and we’ll see where it’s at.
“Honestly I’ve got nothing to tell you. (Athletic therapist) Piet (Van Zant) just said we’ll evaluate him tomorrow.…
Detroit forward Justin Abdelkader did get a good look at the altercation between Zetterberg and Benn.
“I saw a replay of the play,… Abdelkader said. “It looked like (Zetterberg) got punched in the head.
“I imagine the NHL will take a look at that. But he’s been playing so well for us. Hopefully he’s all right.…
Dazzling Datsyuk Minus Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk stepped up, scoring twice and assisting on two other goals. It was his goal with Jonas Gustavsson on the bench at 18:12 of the third period that sent the game to the extra session and he drew the second assist on Kronwall’s game winner.
“Datsyuk was the star obviously,… Babcock said. “We dominated the first 10 minutes. We were up 8-1 in shots. We had the puck. Then it was like for a while it didn’t look quite as good. We had the line change and they scored a goal and it didn’t look like we could play at all.
“Then suddenly it looked like we really could play and Pavel decided in the third that we were going to win the game and got it going.…
Datsyuk finished the night with 21:48 of ice time. Only Kronwall (24:18) played more for the Wings.
“He just does so much out there for us as a team, defensively, offensively, faceoffs - he’s just one of our go-to guys offensively,… Abdelkader said of Datsyuk. “Seeing him healthy this year is a big boost for us.…
Jakub Two-Two Called up from a conditioning stint with AHL Grand Rapids that was supposed to last two more games, defenseman Jakub Kindl scored a pair of early third-period goals 45 seconds apart to pull Detroit into a 4-4 tie.
The first one came on a point shot and Kindl’s second goal was a flip into a gaping cage as he followed the play to the net.
“The second one, Tats (Tomas Tatar) got open there and I was just trying to give him the puck and get him open for a breakaway,… Kindl said. “For sure I though he was going to bury it. No question about it.
“I was actually maybe going for the celebration because I thought he was going to score and ended up lucky. I tried to stay with it and it got into me and I had an open net. Again, it was Tats. He’s got what, 24 goals? I was sure he was going to score.…
Kindl matched his career high of four goals in a season, set in 2012-13 and joined Kronwall (Oct. 23 vs. Pittsburgh) as the only Red Wings defenders to score twice in a game this season.
“It was great to see (Kindl) come back and do what he did, a guy who made the decision to go to the minors for a little bit because he hadn’t played in forever and he came in and made a contribution,… Babcock said. “He’s got to feel real good about himself and it helps us out a lot.…
Monster Move Babcock inserted Gustavsson in place of starting goalie Jimmy Howard in the third period after Shawn Horcoff scored the sixth goal for the Stars.
It was Gustavsson’s first Detroit appearance since Nov. 5, when he suffered a separated shoulder at the end of an overtime loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. And it was his first victory since a 1-0 overtime decision over Toronto on Oct. 18.
“I put Gus in to give him 10 minutes before he plays (a full game),… Babcock said. “That’s exactly what we did and then he won the game, so good for our team.…
It was also the first time all season that Howard has been pulled from a game.
Howard was forced to leave twice this season – Dec. 19 against the New York Islanders and Jan. 10 against Washington – due to injury.
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