Unfriendly Confines: Stars 4 at Red Wings 3 (OT)

Fresh off a 3-1 road trip, the Red Wings returned to Joe Louis Arena, hoping to make home-ice advantage an actual advantage. After their last homestand went 0-1-2, this one did not get started well.

Miss the game?

A scoreless tie summarized the first period better than I could. The second turned out almost perfect for the Red Wings. Almost. The top line started their domination with Pavel Datsyuk winning a puck in the corner and feeding Henrik Zetterberg above the goal line who found Todd Bertuzzi in the slot for 1-0 lead. Top line magic continued when Bertuzzi powered through the offensive zone, getting to a loose puck in the corner. He found Zetterberg in the other corner who went to the slot again and found Adam Almquist who finished for his first NHL goal. In what became a theme on the night, the Red Wings couldn’t close out the period, as Ray Whitney found Shawn Horcoff all alone in front of Howard to cut the lead in half going into the second intermission.

The Stars tied the game soon into the third, with Jamie Benn doing his best Pavel Datsyuk impression (but with Datsyuk’s Nashville goal still better). Not to be outdone on this night, however, Pasha made Horcoff look ridiculous with a patented (and registered and trademarked) Datsyukian deke^(R)TM to regain the lead. A late goalie interference penalty on Justin Abdelkader gave the Stars a power play they capitalized on for a 3-3 tie with 70 seconds left. Rich Peverley, one of the three Stars players that ran into each other and the one whose stick took out Tyler Seguin, finished this game off with 19 seconds left in overtime.

Knee-jerk

• Abdelkader absolutely deserved to get called for goaltender interference late in the game. He got the puck along the wall and crashed the net but made absolutely no effort to stop or go behind the net before crashing into Kari Lehtonen. Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley barely touched him on the way to the crease.
• I feel obligated as a Brown student and as an athletic events worker to mention Ryan Garbutt is an alumnus of Brown University.
• The Stars’ broadcast showed Jim Nill talking to a few Red Wings players. I really wish he could have given us a tip or two on how to beat his team.
• I was quite surprised to find Adam Almquist played 6:11 of the first period. I don’t quite remember if that was third or fourth highest on the Red Wings in the period, but both Kindl and Lashoff had played only around 5 minutes.
• I hope another .gif is made, this time of the collision between between Benn, Peverley, and Seguin. Datsyuk walked through and came away with the puck while Seguin came away with a bloody mouth.
• Last-minute goal aside, the second period was textbook. It seriously looked like a video game in favor of the Red Wings.

After review

• How about the top line tonight? Bertuzzi and Datsyuk with a goal and assist each, Zetterberg with three assists. They obviously read J.J.’s CSSI from the Winnipeg game, and Datsyuk said, “No, it is unacceptable to be minus player and get bonus minus.”
  The Atom Bombquist has struck! I didn’t pay too much attention to the Winnipeg game, so it’s unfortunate that he didn’t look terribly good in the stretches I saw. He was much more effective in this game, especially in executing breakout passes and being open for D-to-D passes. Too bad he was out for the game-winning goal.
• The second period has definitely been a strength of the Red Wings since the road trip began. Now the new issue is late period goals.
• And home ice, apparently. The Red Wings have gained 2 out 8 points in the last 4 home games and are now 3-2-3 at home on the season. Games like tonight are games where valuable points get away. If the Red Wings hope to avoid another late-season scramble, they need similar success at home as they have on the road where they’re 6-3-0.
• Streaks are nice, but they’ve got to deliver when really needed. The Red Wings’ penalty kill went into this game killing 18 penalties in a row. They got their 19th in a row, and getting their 20th would likely have gotten the Red Wings two points in regulation tonight. A Dallas power play goal tied this game up and forced the overtime that sent me into writing yet another losing recap./

The Red Wings play again Saturday as they welcome Steve Yzerman, Valtteri Filppula, and new Atlantic Division rival Tampa Bay to Joe Louis Arena. Let’s hope Stephen Weiss outscores Filppula if for no other reason than to make the head-to-head matchup mildly interesting and even more teeth-gnashing than both signings have already been.

Red Wings Player of the Game