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The Detroit Red Wings fell short yet again on Wednesday night when Rangers forward
Derick Brassard banged home a loose puck into a yawning cage 1:50 into overtime to give New York an exhilarating 4-3 overtime win over the Wings.
Plenty of focus this morning might be on the poor officiating in this contest. Both teams at times likely felt as if the men in stripes were doing their best to hinder their team’s chances to win the contest. Despite the missed calls (Hagelin high-stick to
Danny DeKeyser stands out) and the bad calls (the supposed overtime trip by multi-time Lady Byng winner
Pavel Datsyuk 180 feet away from his own goal), it actually might be a Red Wing who faces supplementary discipline.
Johan Franzen did not receive a penalty for what appeared to be an intentional punch to the back of the head of Hagelin late in the 3rd period of the emotional contest. Hagelin was slow to get up after the blow, but he remained in the game. In watching the video, I would suspect Franzen may receive a fine for his actions, but I would be mildly surprised if a suspension is handed down.
Nevertheless, the poor officiating is not what ended up robbing the Red Wings of leaving Manhattan with the full two points. Costly mistakes, most notably executing on-the-fly line changes hamstrung the Wings on this night in handing New York two odd-man rushes that the Blueshirts converted.
Trailing 1-0 in the 2nd period,
Jakub Kindl attempted to make the lengthy line change customary during the middle frame for rearguards with the puck entering the Rangers zone. With
Brendan Smith coming on to the ice, Kindl’s partner
Brian Lashoff failed to recognize that a change was taking place and remained on his side of the ice instead of drifting to the middle. As a result,
Martin St. Louis accepted a fine breakaway pass from
Matt Hunwick and beat Gustavsson between the wickets to make it 2-0 for the Rangers.
Fortunately for Detroit, they were able to recover from that error to tie the affair at two goals apiece when two of the most beloved Red Wings on this roster scored in a span of 13 seconds. Kindl atoned for his earlier mistake by firing home a wrist shot at the tail end of a Wings power-play to cut the deficit back to one.
Danny Cleary scored in his season debut only 13 seconds later, from a sharp angle to get the Wings back to even.
The Wings continued to press and seemingly got stronger as the game progressed, despite playing their 5th game in 8 nights. Despite outshooting the Rangers 13-5 in the final stanza, it was New York who took the late lead thanks once again to a poorly executed line change. While his teammates headed to the bench,
Brendan Smith inexplicably decided to head up ice to pressure the Rangers player (
Chris Krieder) handling the puck at his own blueline. One quick pass later and the Rangers had a two-on-one odd man rush entering the Detroit zone.
Lee Stempniak one-timed a pass from
Dominic Moore and the Wings once again found themselves trailing.
Detroit received some strong performances on this night from their younger forwards and they came through in the clutch in the dying seconds with the superstars resting on the bench following a lengthy shift while attempting to score the game-winner. The trio of Tatar, Sheahan and Nestrasil combined to grab the game-tying goal with less than 8 seconds remaining. With the impact provided by both Nestrasil and Cleary on this night, it would not be surprising to see them remain in the lineup tomorrow night when the Wings host the New Jersey Devils.
Goaltender
Jonas Gustavsson, who played reasonably well and made a gorgeous glove save on
Rick Nash in the opening frame, injured his left shoulder on the game-winning goal while reaching back for the loose puck that was eventually put in by Brassard
As expected,
Mike Babcock announced that
Petr Mrazek will be recalled to take Gustavsson’s place. It appears “The Monster” may have separated a shoulder on the play and could be out anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Despite his fantastic training camp with the Red Wings, Mrazek has struggled early on with Grand Rapids this season, sporting a record of 1-2 through his 4 AHL games with a 3.80 GAA and a 0.854 save percentage, while getting outplayed by his teammate
Tom McCollum.
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