Wings Postgame: PDOwned

Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY SPORTS

The Detroit Red Wings entered Joe Louis arena tonight looking to continue their red-hot win streak with another victory. The effort that the showed on the ice reflected that, with the team dominating their opponents for 65+ minutes.

The result? Well… the Avalanche somehow walked away with a 3-2 shootout win.

You got the feeling that things were going to go bad tonight as soon as Detroit started lapping Colorado in the shot count; it was only a matter of time before an attempt to get a sure-fire chance would end in heartbreak. That moment came quickly, when Matt Duchene put the Wings down by one midway through the first period.

An attempt at a creative breakout ended up right in Mikhail Grigorenko’s lap, and the “young” forward took advantage by driving to the net while Matt Duchene passed through the distracted Red Wings players to pick up his linemate’s feed. Despite the Wings outshooting their opponents 13-4 through 20 minutes, the Duchene goal was the only one accomplished by either side.

The Wings did get revenge in the second, however, and from an unlikely hero. Jonathan Ericsson took in a pass from Justin Abdelkader and wired a wrister from the point, bouncing it off of traffic in front of the net to beat Semyon Varlamov. Detroit kept pressing, at one point tripling Colorado in shots, but once again, fell behind in the third period. Tyson Barrie scooped a loose puck from the corner boards and threw it towards the net, somehow escaping four Red Wings and finding Blake Comeau, who barely got his stick on it but managed to trickle the puck past Petr Mrazek.

Pavel Datsyuk saved the day shortly after, at least as far as getting his team a point through his ninth goal of the season. and sixth point in his last four games. That was enough to send the game to overtime, and he followed it up by a goal in the shootout, but Comeau and Nathan MacKinnon responded back with the 1-on-1 daggers to deliver a loss to the home side.

Black magic.

Let’s just pretend this one never happened. The Red Wings get a chance to get their winning groove back on Sunday when they take on the Boston Bruins. Puck drop is at 3:30 PM.