For the first time all season, the NHL-leading Nashville Predators have gone consecutive games without collecting a point. This dose of disappointment was dealt to them by the Detroit Red Wings, the only NHL team that has yet to go consecutive games without collecting a point.
Third-period goals by Alexey Marchenko and Tomas Tatar rallied the Wings to a 4-3 verdict over the Predators Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena. It was the third time during Detroit’s impressive 4-1-1 road trip that the Wings rallied from a third-period deficit for a victory.
“We like to be ahead,… Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “That’s not the plan, to get behind.
“But we pretty much go with all four groups and we just get them out on the ice and in the end we believe if we do things right we have a chance to win.…
Tomas Tatar, whose power-play goal provided the margin of victory, felt the rallies simply display the resiliency of this Detroit team.
“We stick together and we battle like a team,… Tatar said. “You just don’t want to give up, right. If it‘s a tight game you still want to win it.
“Twenty minutes in hockey, this game is so fast right now, you never know what’s going to happen. When we were down just one goal we said we stick to a plan and do what we do.…
His First Before Tatar could win it, defenseman Alexey Marchenko had to tie it, doing so by registering his first NHL goal, taking a drop pass from Justin Abdelkader and rifling a high wrist shot past the left ear of Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne.
“Justin made a really great play,… Marchenko said. “Kronner (Niklas Kronwall) gave it to him in the middle and he just dropped it to me.
“I just finished it and got lucky.…
Getting the first is one he’ll always remember, but getting it at such a key moment in the game only served to make it more memorable.
“I think I realize that I was waiting for it,… Marchenko said. “You want to get it as quick as possible, but as soon as you get it, it’s like maybe more confidence, that you can score at this level.…
Helm Out It wasn’t all roses and bouquets for the Wings. Forward Darren Helm left early in the game with an upper-body injury after being crushed into the boards by Nashville defenseman Seth Jones.
“We don’t exactly but we’ll get it looked at and then we’ll see,… Babcock said of what exactly is wrong with the oft-injured Helm, who has played in all 61 of Detroit’s games this season.
Though it appeared as if Helm’s head bounced off the top of the dasher when hit by Jones, the Wings indicated that Helm’s ailment is not a head injury.
Miller Time Appearing in his 400th NHL game, fourth-line winger Drew Miller assisted on Brendan Smith’s goal and then scored one of his own to give the Wings an early 2-0 advantage.
Miller has played in 143 consecutive games for the Red Wings.
Up And Down Xavier Ouellet began the day in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins. When it appeared that Smith wouldn’t be able to go due to a hand injury, Ouellet was rushed to Nashville from Chicago, where the Griffins were slated to play the Wolves.
Both players took the warm-up, but when Smith said he was OK to answer the bell, Ouellet was booked on another flight to Chicago to get him back to the Windy City in time to suit up for Grand Rapids.
“I was 50-50,… Smith said. “I told coach ‘I’m not sure.’ That’s why we called up Olli.
“We didn’t have practice after San Jose and we didn’t have a morning skate, so it’s hard for me to tell the coaches if I was OK and obviously they played it safe by getting a guy like Olli up, who can go in and play at any time. But I was able to do it and it worked out.…
Besides his goal to open the scoring, Smith also proved to be a thorn in Nashville’s side, drawing a number of penalties.
“Smitty, I didn’t know if he’d be playing,… Babcock said. “He was involved in everything from taking penalties to drawing penalties, to scoring.…
Cranky Babs Babcock admitted he was somewhat confused by the work of referees Dave Jackson and Rob Martell.
“It was a different type game,… Babcock said. “You couldn’t get a penalty no matter what you did early and couldn’t stay out of the box late.
“It was just one of those things.…
The Detroit coach was downright upset with the NHL for scheduling an afternoon game on the other side of the country to close out their six-game road swing.
“It’s a tough trip,… Babcock said. “I don’t think these should be allowed on the schedule when you come back from one coast and play on the other side at 2 o’clock. But we found a way to get it done.…
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