The Red Wings came into this one playing some exciting hockey, winners of their last three and with points in four of their last five. Buffalo has been a bit of a bugaboo for the Wings in recent, and they were once again tonight as an overtime power play goal gave the Sabres a 3-2 win.
First Period
Very early on Gustav Nyquist took Jake McCabe awkwardly into the boards and was called for tripping (McCabe would not return with an apparent shoulder injury). Right away Darren Helm was out on the penalty kill with Luke Glendening, and they almost connected as Glendening batted a deflected Helm pass in on Buffalo goalie Anders Nilsson.
Shortly after Mrazek made a nice save on Reinhardt and caught just enough of a shot off the rebound to put it off the post. Afterwards the period settled into a lot of sloppy back and forth play as neither team seemed to be able to connect on their passes. This would change on a near replay of Andreas Athanasiou’s goal the other night against Boston as Frans Nielsen would throw the puck out back to Athanasiou short side as he was going behind the net and Athanasiou beat the goalie but put the puck off the bottom of the crossbar and out the other side.
The near goal seemed to energize the Wings some, and a good shift by the Wings third line down low in the offensive zone is rewarded as Zach Bogosian hauled Tomas Tatar down and earned himself a seat in the penalty box.
The Wings only needed 12 seconds to make Buffalo pay. Mike Green made an excellent play to keep the puck in the zone and pass it to Nielsen off a clearing attempt by Buffalo. Nielsen wasted no time putting the puck through Nilsson on the far side for a Red Wings power play goal and a 1-0 lead.
The rest of the period was choppy as Buffalo had a hard time stringing passes together and ended up with half a dozen icings. The Wings did their best to help Buffalo when they did get the puck into the Wings zone without icing it with some passing issues of their own but Petr Mrazek was up to the challenge as he looked very confident and calm in net. He made his best save of the period going post to post to get a blocker on the shot off a 3 on 2 after a turnover by Jensen and the Wings took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Second Period
Both teams came out with a little more jump in the second but they shortly settled back into the sloppiness of the first. The Wings found themselves down a man early on again as Helm reached across Evander Kane with his stick trying to make a play on the puck, and the big Buffalo forward went down a bit too easily for my taste (as well as the Red Wings bench) but it probably was the right call.
The Wings penalty kill did a very good job containing a dangerous Sabres power play until Xavier Ouellet got called for a high stick with 24 seconds left on the Helm penalty. They killed off the 5 on 3 but could not kill off the rest of the shorthanded situation. Mrazek came across on a one timer by Jack Eichel near the left faceoff circle that was partially blocked. The initial shot by Eichel did not make it through to Mrazek, but it bounced right to Sam Reinhart who had position on Danny DeKeyser in front of the net and puck found its way behind Mrazek.
Initially the goal was waved off by the referee, as it looked like Reinhart had kicked the puck into the net, but a very short replay showed that Reinhart just barely got his stick on the puck after the kick, and it was overturned.
I know some will complain about how far Mrazek was out, and he has been victimized by the backdoor play before because of his very aggressive style, but this goal was one part luck in the blocked shot by Eichel finding Reinhart and Reinhart being able to get his stick on it after kicking it as well as one part Danny DeKeyser failing to fully tie up his man in front of the net but more importantly failing to keep the puck from going into the net.
Right after the Buffalo goal the Wings found themselves back on the power play as Nielsen took a high stick from Justin Falk. They would get a fantastic chance early by Nyquist on the back door that Nilsson makes a very good save. The rest of the power play, and really the period, would see the Red Wings create some opportunities only to fail to convert those opportunities to quality chances or goals. Buffalo created some decent chances but Mrazek continued his excellent play and the period ended 1-1.
Third Period
The teams came out with more of the same sloppy, stop and go play to start the third.
Tatar took a shift with Abdelkader and Helm, and while they created some good possession the Buffalo zone they were not able to get anything dangerous on goal. Almost half way through the period Dylan Larkin got away with some interference on Taylor Fedun but Fedun was not as lucky when he put Larkin on his butt in retaliation. The Red Wings power play, which has started to look better as of late, created a couple real good chances with puck/player movement but as was the theme of the night Lady Puck Luck was not on their side as shot by Nyquist rang of the crossbar and one by Tatar that was destined for the far side hit Bogosian’s stick and deflected out of play. The luck would finally come with six minutes left in the game. Helm, playing in his first game after sitting out 29 with a shoulder injury and one day before his 30th birthday, threw a shot at the net that was blocked up in the air and pinballed around before Helm pounced on the loose puck and fired it past Nilsson for a 2-1 Red Wings lead. The lead would not last long though as Ryan O’Rielly beat DeKeyser down the ice to a loose puck in the corner, tossed Danny to the side like he was a used tissue, walked out front of the net and beat Mrazek to tie the game at two. Petr definitely would want that goal back as he got caught too far in his net. Buffalo got a spark off that tying goal and started to take the play to the Red Wings but the Wings were able to hang on and force the game to overtime.
Overtime
The Red Wings won the draw and after a bit of a cautious but smart puck control by Tomas Tatar the Wings found themselves with the puck in the Buffalo zone and a Sabres player without a stick. After a shot missed the net Darren Helm continued his strong first game back with hit along the boards to separate the Sabres player from the puck before getting the puck to a streaking Vanek who came in alone on the goalie and was hooked down, putting the Red Wings on the power play. As decent as the power play looked early on, it looked that bad in overtime. Of course, shortly after the penalty was over the Wings got called for a penalty of their own as Nielsen got called for a hook as the follow through on a shot ends up underneath Rasmus Ristolainen’s arm and the young Buffalo defenseman pulls a vet move pinning the stick to his body in order to sell the call. Everyone in Hockeytown had to know what was coming next. On the ensuing power play Kyle Okposo kept DeKeyser from clearing the puck by getting his stick with a far more egregious hook than the one Nielsen was called for then skated to the front of the net and took a rebound off Mrazek’s pads and put it behind him for the game winner.
Final Thoughts
-It was nice to see the aggressive and confident Petr Mrazek back. I still wish he would not be quite so aggressive all the time as he still tends to leave the back door open and can get caught out of position but I can live with it when he is playing like he did for most of the game tonight. Without Mrazek tonight the Red Wings do not even get to overtime.
-The Red Wings power play showed some signs of improving during the game but reverted to its stagnant puck movement at a crucial time in overtime when they had a chance to win the game. I am not sure if they just do not practice 4 on 3 power plays often (Zetterberg alluded to this very thing in his post-game comments) but it looked like they had idea what they wanted to try and set up.
-I am a big fan of Danny DeKeyser and no one on this team (save for maybe the goalies) would benefit more from the Red Wings finding a top pairing defenseman than him. That said, he has got to get stronger. Both of Buffalo’s regulation goals were a result of him being outworked and out muscled for a loose puck and the overtime goal he could stop Okposo from getting the puck off Mrazek’s pads and putting it in the net for the game winner. I know it is a power play but he has got to tie Okposo up there.
