Green Friday: Red Wings Win On Green OT Snipe

The Red Wings hoped to hand the Devils their first regulation loss at the Prudential Center this season while starting only their 3rd winning streak of the year. Coming into this game the Devils boasted a 7-0-1 record at home, best in the NHL.

There are only six teams in the NHL with a record worse than the Red Wings, being in that spot at Thanksgiving isn’t exactly ideal. If the Wings hope to make the postseason, the wins are going to have to roll in soon. Did they get a much-needed 2 points tonight?

The Wings came out strong until, well, the usual. The Devils scored on their first really good opportunity, a John Moore one-timer from the left circle. The defensive coverage broke down as the Devils cycled the puck deep, everybody seemed to forget about watching the weak side and before you knew it, the puck was in the back of the net.

Seconds later, Riley Sheahan took a 4 minute high-sticking penalty which actually helped the Red Wings more than the Devils, if you can believe it. On the powerplay, Severson lost the puck in his defensive zone, Abdelkader drove hard to the net and Nielsen cleaned up the mess to even this game up at 1 on a shorthanded tally.

Shortly thereafter Steve Ott had a near-miss on a breakaway chance and Luke Glendening nearly buried a backhand shot in the scrum that ensued which Schneider had to fight off.

On the rush immediately after the penalty expired, Nielsen passed the puck to the middle where Sheahan took the initial shot that Schneider saved. Nielsen then sent the puck back to the front of the net where Palmieri seemed to poke the puck into the net himself. 2-1 Good Guys!

It’s never good to take a 4 minute penalty. But when you score a shorty, kill the rest of the penalty and then score again on the ensuing rush, you’ve effectively sucked all the air out of an arena where the home team hasn’t lost in regulation all year.

With about 8 minutes to go in the 1st period, Petr Mrazek suddenly came into the net for the Red Wings. Both Paul Boyer and Piet Van Zant remained on the bench, so it wasn’t clear why Howard had gone back to the dressing room. Fox Sports showed Howard stretch his right leg before heading off, and we got word that Howard was questionable to return with a groin injury - a horrible break for the Red Wings given how good he’s been so far this year.

With 3:53 left, the Red Wings went to work on the powerplay with Mike Cammalleri off for tripping. The Wings didn’t capitalize on the opportunity, as you might’ve guessed, but that’s alright! 2-1 Wings after 1!

Shots (on goal):

DET: 16 (12)

NJD: 11 (5)

A few minutes into the 2nd period and Sproul pinned Cammalleri to the boards in the left corner but somehow Cammelleri snuck away and got the puck to the front of the net. His initial attempt was blocked but after sending the puck back towards the front of the net, it appeared as though Ericsson tipped it into the net past a frustrated Mrazek. 2-2.

Moments later the Red Wings nearly retook the lead, Larkin had the puck all alone in the slot but Schneider shut the door to keep the game tied. Frans Nielsen had a prime scoring chance on the next rush as well.

With 14:34 to go in the period, Jonathan Ericsson was sent off for interference. Unfortunately, this penalty kill wasn’t as good for the Wings as the first. After DeKeyser had two opportunities to clear the zone, the Devils caught the Wings out of position and went ahead in this game after Pavel Zacha buried the puck into a wide open net.

I’m not going to get too upset with DeKeyser but his initial clearing attempt ended up in the Devils bench and then immediately after the faceoff he failed to clear the zone again which directly lead to the Devils goal. Also, look at how Steve Ott gets destroyed here.

Nice going Otter.

Soon after, the Devils got away with a pretty blatant interference call, cycled the puck for another 30 seconds, drew a penalty and then continued to buzz. Bennett rung a shot off the goalpost before the Wings finally touched the puck. New Jersey headed back to the powerplay on a Glendening penalty.

Fortunately for the Wings, they killed this one off without much incident. Unfortunately for the Red Wings, Steve Ott is a big pissbaby and tried to draw some sort of call after play had stopped. Truthfully, I don’t know what he was doing. But all that matters is they sent him off for 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Red Wings were shorthanded again.

Good thing the Devils have an awful powerplay, they didn’t get much going on Ott’s gift of a man advantage.

With a few minutes left, Tatar had another great opportunity to even the game back up but once again, couldn’t find twine. He remains ice cold and the Red Wings remain down a goal as the 2nd period ends. Or do they?!

A rush just before the period ended resulted in a Dylan Larkin goal with only 1.2 seconds left on the clock. New Jersey challenged the play, saying it was offsides. It looked to be onside, the refs agreed, and just like that we have a tie game! 3-3 going into the 3rd period.

Quick note: the Red Wings went 7 minutes without a shot attempt in this period.

Quick note x2: This all came after Abdelkader made this incredible save to keep it a one-goal game.

Wowzers.

Shots (on goal):

DET: 33 (22)

NJD: 34 (15)

Right before the third period started, we got an update on Jimmy Howard.

Alrighty then!

43 seconds into the period and OH MY GOD MANTHA. Big Tony brought the puck down the left side and whipped it top shelf to give the Red Wings a 4-3 lead. Wow. What a sequence and what a shot.

Anthony Mantha is pretty alright at hockey.

Abdelkader set up Glendening for a prime chance a few minutes later but Schneider got to it just in time. Suddenly this game has developed into an end-to-end shootout with 10 minutes left. The Wings had 3 or 4 good scoring chances to the Devils’ 2 or 3, but no change of score regardless.

6 minutes left and Nielsen got called for tripping. The Red Wings never touched the puck on the delayed call, however. They just let the Devils pass it around for 30 or so seconds before Kyle Quincey let one rip from the point, Adam Henrique tipped the puck in front and just like that we’ve got a tie game. I guess I was wrong about this game, we went into the last 4 minutes with 8 goals already scored. That’s not something you see every game between these two teams.

With just 1:18 left, Palmieri high-sticked Brendan Smith and the Wings had a prime opportunity to end the Devils’ great home record. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the Red Wings struggled to set up on the man advantage and squandered the opportunity.

Shots (on goal):

DET: 45 (30)

NJD: 41 (19)

After such a poor showing to end regulation, I would’ve liked the Wings to decline the remaining 42 seconds of powerplay time to start overtime.

There was absolutely no puck movement to start the period on the powerplay, Mantha did have a good chance in front but that was about it. Larkin nearly converted on a weird chance from a bad angle. Tatar then had a chance in front of the net off a Larkin feed but it wouldn’t go in.

A few minutes later, some excellent puck movement from Green, Nielsen and Mantha in the Devils zone resulted in Green sitting all alone in the slot with the puck and he buried the opportunity to end the game - RED WINGS WIN!

It wasn’t in regulation, but I’ll take the two points!

Final shots tally (on goal):

DET: 48 (33)

NJD: 41 (19)