Third Shootout's The Charm As Miller's Goals Net 4-3 Wings Win
It's enough stress to have to go to the shootout. Worse when you have three shootouts in four games. Even worse when it's the second extra-round shootout of those three. all three have gone to extra rounds.
This time, however, the second point went to the Red Wings as Drew Miller's backhand went over Niklas Backstrom's shoulder in the eighth round to get the 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild.
Miller also scored in regulation to give the Wings a two-goal lead with 10:57 left in regulation. But the Wild got themselves back in to the game on a pair of goals a minute apart from Martin Havlat and Andrew Brunette.
Jimmy Howard returned to the net and blocked 27 of 30 shots by the Wild. Josh Harding got the start in goal for Minnesota, but appeared to injure himself on a Ville Leino shot late in the first period and was replaced by Backstrom at the start of the second.
For the Red Wings, it keeps them at 5-3-2 over their last 10 games, with a critical matchup against the eighth-place Los Angeles Kings coming on Saturday night.
The Red Wings jumped out, as Todd Bertuzzi had a takeaway near Howard. Howard passed the puck to Pavel Datsyuk, then took off towards the net. By the time Datsyuk passed it back to Bertuzzi, it was him alone versus Harding, and Bertuzzi put it top shelf for his 14th goal of the year, one behind Tomas Holmstrom for the team lead.
In the second period, Robbie Earl deflected a pass off his upper body from Shane Hnidy and into the net. There was a delay to allow Toronto to review the play on two points: whether the puck went into the net before the net was dislodged and if the puck was knocked in by any sort of motion, but Toronto upheld the call on the ice.
But the Wings would reclaim the lead. Darren Helm drove towards the net from behind and to the left of Backstrom. His soft shot rebounded out to Patrick Eaves, who put it easily past Backstrom to get his seventh of the season, with Derek Meech adding an assist.
Then Meech took a shot from the blue line that deflected off Miller's stick. Backstrom couldn't move over to stop it, and the Wings had a two-goal lead. Dan Cleary picked up the second assist on Miller's sixth goal.
Minnesota came back though, as Kyle Brodziak took a weak shot that deflected off the toe of Havlat (who was tied up with Jonathan Ericsson) and trickled over the goal line. It was Havlat's ninth of the season, with Nick Schultz picking up the second assist.
One minute later, the Wild would strike again,as Shane Hnidy's shot was deflected up in the air. Brian Rafalski swiped for the puck, but missed it; Andrew Brunette found it at the foot of his stick, and he put it past Howard for his 14th to tie the game.
After an overtime that saw the Wild outshoot the Red Wings 8-1, the game went to the shootout. Datsyuk beat Backstrom in the first round, while Owen Nolan put a backhand wrister behind Howard in the third round to force extra rounds. In the seventh round, Marek Zidlicky skated in fast and put a shot over Howard's left shoulder, only to have Valtteri Filppula extend the shootout with a slapper that seemed to tie up Backstrom. Finally, Miller put his shot in the top shelf that ended the game. For the Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Leino, Cleary, and Eaves all failed to convert.
Player of the game: Drew Miller. The waiver pickup gets a goal in regulation plus the shootout winner.
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s/Shutout/shootout/
Nice title. If only…
The Red Wings played well against the Blackhawks and even better against the Capitals and couldn’t get more than a point. So the Red Wings gave up trying to play well and played their worst game since the Fishsticks and got two points. I think this is the wrong message.
Ville Leino actually looked like he wanted to play after taking that stupid penalty and had a few really good chances.
Derek Meech was the best Red Wings player this game.
Patrick Eaves had as many shots on goal as the entire top line combined.
Surprising
I think that’s the first time in a long time Ville Leino’s been mentioned in a recap without “doing absolutely nothing” being involved somewhere. Not that this was a positive mention, but it wasn’t really negative either. Maybe the kid will turn around a little bit. Probably not, though.
It is ironic, though
that Leino finally hits someone, and it’s someone without the puck so he takes a penalty – maybe it is a good sign that he is trying to be physical?
Have to wonder what he was doing up so early in the shootout though!
by jennbikegirl on Jan 21, 2010 11:03 PM CST up reply actions
I'm going to
think positive thoughts. He’s doing something, at least, instead of being a lump on the ice. And as for being up early in the shootout, I’ve got to assume he looked okay in practice the other day. And the fact that he’s better(figuratively, if not literally) than Cleary, whom I like, but he’s just not good in shootouts, at all.
i thought all three shootout games went into extras.
vs dal went 8 rounds, i think
vs chi went 4 rounds
and this one went 8 rounds
i may be wrong though
geez i guess i missed a dandy tonight
what a stressful game it must of been but hey we won woooo!
TULO = 2010 MVP!
LETS GO WINGS!
Very nice and exciting Shootout as well as game
..too bad eaves hit the post in the shootout wouldve been good to see him get two in a game. but it was good to see miller get one too
Santa's Little Helpers Lose
My Girlfriend kept saying Minnesota looked like a bunch of Santa’s Little Helpers skating around. Couldn’t help but laugh.
Holy CRAP what a game
Thank God for DVR. I had to get up and walk around after Filpulla tied the shootout.
Is there anybody
that thinks we could have a game where we win comfortably and not be stressin the whole time. Im starting to think its not possible, however it was great hockey. These games are starting to wear me out every night.
Shootout
It’s nice to see a shootout finally go our way, but…
We’ve got to find a way to win in regulation. There was no reason to shut down in the third period. I for one was really disappointed in the way the Wings played the last 15 minutes and overtime of that game, they got it done in the shootout, but it really never should have gotten that far.
Kudos go to the Wild for coming out and busting their humps to get a point out of that game.
Wait...
" Drew Miller’s backhand went over Niklas Backstrom’s shoulder in the eighth round"
Wasn’t it just a wristshot?

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