Wings Postgame: Broadway Bonus Time

Photo Credit: Rick Ostenski/USA TODAY SPORTS

Winning against the Winnipeg Jets is a step in the right direction, but if this team has any shot at doing damage in late Aprill, they need to get some wins against top teams back under their belt. Today’s game against the New York Rangers worked out to be a bit of a litmus test, their strong effort was not left unrewarded, as Darren Helm’s overtime deflection led to a 3-2 victory.

The Red Wings poured it on from the very start of this game, firing fifteen shots at Henrik Lundqvist in the first twenty minutes. Despite that, though, it was New York who struck first. Derek Stepan picked up a secondary rebound on a play that he initiated, taking advantage of a sprawling Petr Mrazek to open the scoring.

Despite Detroit’s best efforts, it looked for a while like the score was going to stay this way. But a four and a half minutes into the third period, Darren Helm found an opening in the middle lane, took advantage of a weird bounce, and chased a loose puck to bury a game-tying goal. The effort was almost spoiled, however, as an overly aggressive Justin Abdelkader picked up a goaltender interference penalty that led to the Rangers once again going up; this time, Keith Yandle’s point shot was deflected by Chris Kreider.

The Wings refused to quit though, continuing to shower Lundqvist with pucks right into the dying moments. The Rangers tried to take advantage of Detroit’s extra attacker not once, but twice, and missed both times, setting up a herculean tying goal by Brad Richards who tore into the slot and picked up his ninth of the season.

The two teams went to overtime, and with two minutes to go in the extra 3-on-3 frame, the Wings finally got the lead that they had deserved all night. Pavel Datsyuk took in a puck given to him by Danny DeKeyser, charged up his magic wand, and unleashed a shot on net. Helm, who already led the team in shots on goal for the night, picked up his most important one without even making contact with his stick, getting in the way of the puck and deflecting it with his body past Lundqvist to give his team the afternoon victory.

Niklas Kronwall left the game midway through the second period after an odd scramble in front of the net, which saw Andreas Athanasiou fall on his stretched-out leg. The impact was on his right leg, meaning that he didn’t re-aggravate his left knee injury, but it’s still concerning nonetheless. 

Darren Helm would be an easy pick, but this was also a massive, massive game for Brad Richards. Not only was he Detroit’s top possession player despite playing the bulk of his shifts in a defensive role, he also scored the massive game-tying goal against his former team in the dying seconds and had an additional three shots on goal.

This was a huge win for the Red Wings, and they’ll get every opportunity to add to the momentum tomorrow night when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are a young, salary cap-defying team that have been an interesting story since the trade deadline passed, but they’re also in 30th and losing games like nobody’s business. This is a must-win game, only because any team in this league should be able to beat them. Puck drop is at 7:30 at the Joe.