I have really mixed feelings about this game, but ultimately a win is a win and for a team that is as banged up as Detroit is right now you have to be happy about getting the 2 points. The Wings were totally flat at the start of this game. The Blues just pounded the Wings early on and got away with some cheap shots that should have been penalties.
As a result St. Louis went up 3-0 before Detroit decided they wanted to play a hockey game.
Petr Cajanek continued his mastery of the Red Wings, scoring two more goals against Detroit.
The second goal was controversial due to the incredibly poor officiating. Late in the first period Dallas Drake left his feet when he checked Brett Lebda from behind against the boards. It was an easy penalty call (take your pick, or ) that the refs somehow didn t call.
Lebda left for the remainder of the period but fortunately was back on the ice in the second period.
Very shortly after that play with the puck in the St. Louis end Henrik Zetterberg was in front of the net when he was called for a very weak interference penalty.
It was another example of how the officials miss the calls they absolutely must make, the ones that have the potential to injure, but call the most ludicrous penalties. Cajanek scored his second goal shortly after Zetterberg s penalty expired but it was as close to being a power play goal as you can probably get without being credited with one.
The Blues extended their lead to 3-0 after a boneheaded play by Mathieu Schneider.
The Wings were on the power play and the puck was sitting on the ice between both points in the offensive zone. Schneider dove at the puck in an attempt to keep it in the zone. His attempt didn t work and Dallas Drake got the puck and quickly skated past Schneider before rifling a shot from the left wing near the faceoff circle past Dominik Hasek in the top corner of the net on Hasek s gloveside.
With a little better officiating and much better play from the Wings, the Blues would have likely only scored one goal. As it was the Wings were down 3-0 very early in the second period. They were listless and looked very disinterested.
But then they must have remembered they were playing the St. Louis Blues and that losing to them twice at home would not be good.
Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom got Detroit on the board with a power play goal in the second period at the 1:48 mark.
I was still skeptical the Wings could overcome a 3 goal deficit, as Bill over at Abel to Yzerman has pointed out that 3 goals allowed tends to be the Mendoza line for a Wings loss. However the Wings seemed to show some interest in actually playing. Just get one goal over the next 15+ minutes and you can go into the 3rd period only down one goal.
At the 10:49 mark Robert Lang made a great pass to Jason Williams who was to St. Louis netminder Jason Bacashihua s right side. The goalie moved out from the net to get better positioning in case Lang shot the puck, allowing Williams a wide open look at the net.
Williams fired the puck behind him to draw Detroit within one goal, 3-2.
The Wings knotted the score at 3 when Dan Cleary scored at the 4:33 mark of the 3rd period. The goal came on the power play after Dennis Wideman was sent off for delay of game when he flipped the puck over the glass from the defensive zone.
It was a huge goal in a number of ways: it was the second power play goal for a Detroit power play that has been lethargic; it tied the game; and it moved Dan Cleary into a first place tie with Henrik Zetterberg for most goals on the team. Cleary has been sensational so far this season.
The game went to overtime and the Wings made the Blues pay for over-reaching in their rush towards the Detroit net in an attempt to end the game.
End the game they did, but not with the result they would have wanted. Pavel Datsyuk got the puck and he started a 2 on 1 odd man rush with Nicklas Lidstrom. Datsyuk was streaking down the right side boards with Lidstrom on the left.
Everyone in the building KNEW Pavel would pass the puck to Lidstrom. That s probably why Datsyuk s shot beat Bacashihua and gave the Wings a 4-3 win and the two points.
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