Red Wings' furious comeback clips Penguins in OT
Detroit — What an amazing comeback Thursday for the Red Wings, getting two points when none looked probable.
Justin Abdelkader capped the unexpected turn of events with a goal with 43.5 seconds left in overtime, giving the Red Wings a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Abdelkader jumped on a loose puck in the slot and scored on an assist from Henrik Zetterberg — who had a goal and two assists during the late surge.
"Pretty exciting," said Abdelkader, who scored his third goal of the young season. "We don't want to put ourselves in that situation but we worked hard and battled back and found a way in the end to get a huge two points."
Niklas Kronwall's second goal of the night tied it 3-3 with 38.9 seconds left in regulation, with Pavel Datsyuk and Zetterberg assisting.
Datsyuk found Kronwall alone near the hashmarks and Kronwall let go with a slap shot that beat goalie Thomas Greiss high. It was Kronwall's 300th career point.
The Penguins had the puck down in the Red Wings' zone and missed on an open net. Pascal Dupuis' attempt at a shot was blocked, and set up the Red Wings' tying rush.
"It always feels good coming from behind, down a couple of goals with a few minutes left," Kronwall said. "It's all about finding a way and tonight we did a pretty good job of sticking with it."
Zetterberg scored his third goal in three games, cutting the lead to 3-2 at 17:21 and giving the Red Wings hope on an evening that didn't look very promising.
Zetterberg split the Penguins defense after receving an outlet pass from Danny DeKeyser, and beat Greiss from the high slot giving the Red Wings a glimmer of possibilities.
"We had enough time," said Zetterberg, of the comeback after his goal. "We started bad, we got a little better in the second, and we thougth we had something going into the third. We got two late goals and that's good."
"Pittsburgh is a team that will be there in the end. It's fun to play against them and it's nice to see we can come back and get two points."
The Penguins came out skating circles around the Red Wings (4-1-2, 10 points), and didn't let up much, until the late Red Wings heroics.
Dupuis, Olli Maatta, and Chris Kunitz scored for Pittsburgh (3-2-1, 7 points).
"You have to be more desperate than the other team," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who was held without a point. "Especially with the talent and skill they have, you have to find a way to execute in those situations."
The Penguins dominated for much of the game, out-working and out-skating the Red Wings, despite having played the night before.
"We weren't as good as we wanted to be," coach Mike Babcock said. "We can skate and be a hard-working group and we didn't skate and work hard in the first period. We dug ourselves a hole.
"You have to give the guys credit, they stuck with it and Howie (goalie Jimmy Howard) gave us a chance and we were able to get it done in the end.
"We hung in there. We weren't pretty for a lot of the night and not as good as we're capable of being. We're a way better hockey club than that. But the guys stuck with it."
The Red Wings special teams, enjoying vastly different degrees of success thus far, continued their normal trend.
The penalty kill extinguished all three Pittsburgh power plays, and have now killed all 21 opponents' power plays this season.
But the Red Wings' own power play has not been nearly as inefficient. The Red Wings went 0-for-3 on the power play and are now 2-for-27 on the season.
"We have to be better on the power play," Zetterberg said. "If we're better on the power play, it's a closer game earlier."
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