The Red Wings fought through the thicket of Minnesota bodies and sticks to come back from a one-goal deficit late in the third period last night and capped the comeback off with a win in overtime. It was their eighth consecutive victory.
The Wild carried a 2-1 lead through the 18:39 mark of the third. At 18:40, Dan Cleary tied it up after he threw the puck at the net from the left-wing boards. It somehow found its way between Niklas Backstrom and the short-side post. It was Cleary's 20th of the season and tied a career high set last season.
Minnesota held the Wings off for the remainder of regulation, but couldn't stop them in extra time. Brett Lebda was the beneficiary of the great work of Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg, who wrought havoc in the Wild zone while #22 jumped up. With all five Minnesota players on the ice watching him to Backstrom's left, Zetterberg sent a pass to a wide open Lebda, who netted his third of the season to win the game.
The Wings began the scoring at 9:58 of the first period with Johan Franzen's tenth goal of the season. Backstrom kicked the rebound off a Tomas Kopecky shot right to the big Swede and he had an easy time of it putting the puck in the net. The goal came seconds after Franzen had hit the post on a feed from Kopecky.
The lead lasted only 1:12, however, as Derek Meech took a bit of a weak hooking penalty at 10:55 and the Wild scored a power play goal fifteen seconds later. Brian Rolston walked out of the right wing corner and stuffed the puck under Dominik Hasek, who had gone down on his side in order to take away the bottom of the net.
The game remained tied until Pavol Demitra scored the go-ahead goal at 5:36. The play began when Pierre-Marc Bouchard tripped Valtteri Filppula in the Minnestoa zone near the left point. The Wild defenseman then picked up the puck and sent it out to Demitra on the opposite wing. A two-on-one developed, with Andreas Lilja the only Wing back. Demitra beat Hasek high gloveside with a quick shot from 37 feet out.
The Wild would eventually fall back into a defensive posture, but immediately following their goal, they looked to press home the attack. They had the Wings on their heels a bit, but their push was interrupted by a four-minute roughing penalty taken at 9:48 of the second.
It was not the Wings' best power of the season and could have been a back-breaker for a weaker team. They got off only a couple shots over the course of four minutes and were manhandled in front of the net by an ornery Wild defense. Jiri Hudler, taking the role of Tomas Holmstrom for the second unit, was roughed up by three Minnesota players when he refused to back down after the whistle had gone.
On the next shift, Holmstrom faced a similar situation. When Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg skated in to provide support, they too were mobbed. Brent Burns gave Zetterberg a completely uncalled-for facewash, nearly knocking him down. The end result of the fray was penalties to Datsyuk and Mikko Koivu, both for roughing.
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