In their first game out of the All-Star break, the Detroit Red Wings played a long game.
It took until the third period Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena before the Wings scored, and their one-goal lead was flattened with five minutes to go in regulation. Dylan Larkin drew a penalty on San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns at 2:17 of overtime, but Martin Jones stopped all four shots he faced during the man advantage. The Wings reached a season-high 44 shots at the end of overtime.
In the shootout, Frans Nielsen was stopped on a forehand, while Joe Pavelski scored on Petr Mrazek. Gustav Nyquist scored in round two, but so did Logan Couture. Andreas Athanasiou scored to open round three, and Kevin Labanc was stopped to set up sudden-death.
Henrik Zetterberg missed the net on a backhand attempt, and Joonas Donskoi also didn’t score. Dylan Larkin was stopped to start round five, and Burns also was stopped. In round six, Tomas Tatar scored on a deke to his forehand, but Chris Tierney also scored.
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In round seven, Justin Abdelkader faked and scored, and when Tomas Hertl was stopped by Mrazek, the Wings finally had a 2-1 victory.
Trevor Daley scored at 6:48 of the third period when he took a pass from Nielsen, skated to San Jose’s net, and slipped a backhand five-hole on Jones. It was Daley’s first game since suffering a lower-body injury Jan. 20. Kevin Labanc tied it at 15:01, taking advantage of Luke Glendening having lost his stick.
Here are the major storylines from the game:
First period draw
The Sharks, who’s shaken off their All-Star break rust the previous night, had a little more jump to start, and earned a power play at 3:49. Couture hit a goalpost but otherwise the Wings did such a good job Mrazek did not have to make a save. Zetterberg had a good chance denied by Jones midway through the first period when Anthony Mantha fed Zetterberg the puck and he fired a shot up the middle. When the Wings got a power play, at 12:37, their best chance was a Martin Frk slap shot; Frk fanned when he had another opportunity a few seconds later. Shots after 20 minutes were 12-11 to the Wings.
Stalemate continues
Darren Helm missed the net when he had a breakaway early in the second period. There wasn’t much going on either side as far as offense. Dylan Larkin was nabbed for tripping at 12:58 of the second period, sending the Wings on another penalty kill. Larkin and Athanasiou had a 2-on-1 rush out of the penalty, but Jones stopped Athanasiou’s attempt to break the stalemate. Mantha had a chance while in front of the net late in the second period, but he couldn’t bear down and finish. Mrazek denied Brent Burns on a slap shot with a windmill glove save. Shots after 40 minutes were 25-20 to the Wings.
Moment of silence
There was a moment of silence before the game in honor of slain Detroit police officer Glenn Doss, Jr.
Contact Helene St. James: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
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