Patrick Kane's game-winner saves Red Wings in OT vs. Ducks
Published in Hockey
DETROIT — The Red Wings let another late lead slip away Sunday, but this time survived it.
Patrick Kane scored his second goal of the game at the 4-minute mark of overtime after the Ducks narrowly missed scoring on the other end, giving the Wings a 5-4 victory.
Anaheim scored twice with the goaltender pulled late in the third period, pulling even 4-4. Olen Zellweger scored on a shot from the high slot at 17:44 of the third period, and Cutter Gauthier scored his second goal of the game, on a backhander, tying the game at 4 with 52.5 seconds left in regulation.
The Wings got three power-play goals, from Alex DeBrincat, Kane and J.T. Compher, as they ended a mild two-game winless streak (0-1-1).
For two teams that only play each other twice during the season, there was some animosity. Anaheim's Trevor Zegras elbowed Michael Rasmussen in the head in the second period, which led to testy scrum between the teams to end the second period.
Rasmussen did not return to begin the third period.
The victory gave the Wings (29-22-6) possession of the first of two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.
Goaltender Alex Lyon stopped 24 shots in the victory. Marco Kasper opened the scoring for the Wings.
Ryan Strome had the other Anaheim (25-25-6) goal.
After blowing a 3-1 third-period lead to Minnesota the day before, the Wings wanted an opportunity to wipe that particularly memory clean. It was the type of defeat the Wings had skated away from since going 16-5-2 upon the arrival of coach Todd McLellan.
"I guess that's the nice part," said Lucas Raymond after Saturday's game. "We get another crack at it right away (playing Sunday). We know what we should have done better (Saturday). We played a pretty solid game for the first two-and-a-half (periods), then let it slip away from us.
"Everyone will be really eager to get that one back."
That was apparent from the Wings from the drop of the puck.
Kasper scored his 10th goal at 3:11 of the first period, as Raymond's pass bounced off Kasper's skate as he was cruising though the slot.
The Wings then capitalized on the power play, after Anaheim was whistled for two tripping penalties on the same play.
DeBrincat scored his 25th goal at 4:29, and Kane scored his 13th at 5:06, whistling a shot from the high slot past befuddled goalie Lukas Dostal.
Strome cut the lead to 3-1 at 5:24 of the first period, getting a rebound past Lyon. But Compher restored the three-goal lead putting back a rebound, on the power play, at 2:14 of the second period.
Gauthier's goal cut the Wings lead to 4-2 midway in the second period, but the Wings staved off quality Anaheim scoring chances later in the period.
The Wings play their third game in four nights Tuesday in Minnesota.
Earning three of a possible four points during the weekend was another positive sign for a Wings team that came out of the 4-Nations break believing they can sustain the high level of play they've shown for two months.
"We've just been playing real good hockey all the way around, doing a lot of things well," forward Joe Veleno said. "Competing, and our attention to details have been sharp. When Todd came in here, he introduced us a to a lot of new systems and the way we'd like to play.
"We feel good about our chances and our game. We definitely want to be that team to push to the very end and learn from those mistakes last year that didn't get us in the playoffs."
The fact it has been for over two months now, and not just two weeks, has the Wings believing this is the type of team they are.
"You're seeing it not for just a short amount of time," defenseman Ben Chiarot said. "It's been a while now. We've been playing a certain style of hockey and we've been getting the most out of the guys in the room. Guys who maybe didn't have as big of roles have broken out into important roles."
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