Detroit Red Wings manage 2-1 win over Vancouver Canucks
In a battle between the two hottest teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), left-winger Jiri Hudler scored the only goal in the shootout, to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
The Canucks sit atop the NHL Standings with 60 points, while the Red Wings are hot on their heels with 59 points. The Canucks are three points ahead of Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Flyers, who are third in the NHL with 57 points.
Goaltender Jimmy Howard put in a brilliant performance for Detroit by stopping 34 of 35 shots in overtime, before blocking all three attempts in the shootout.
Detroit Coach Mike Babcock said after the game, "Obviously, we got some good players missing. We talked about if we could hang around, we'd have a chance at the end and that's what we tried to do. Just kept it close and kept it tight, and we got some good
goaltending out of Howard."
Johan Franzen also notched a goal in the Red Wings third consecutive win.
Daniel Sedin scored the lone goal, and Roberto Luongo surrendered two goals on 32 shots for Vancouver, who saw their eight-game winning streak snapped. Still, Vancouver is 13-0-3 since its previous regulation loss on 5 December against St. Louis Blues.
Sedin's goal in the 13th minute of the second period, on a power play gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead. It was Sedin's 25th goal of the season.
Just 42 seconds into the third period, Johan Franzen tied it for the Red Wings on a power play. On the rush, Henrik Zetterberg flicked the puck over the sticks of two defensemen to Franzen, who sent the puck into the net.
With 25 seconds remaining in regulation time, the Red Wings seemed to have sealed victory as Niklas Kronwall found the back of the net, but the goal was waived off as Todd Bertuzzi bowled over the Canucks netminder.
With two minutes left in overtime, Jeff Tambellini was stopped as he attempted a backhand shot on a breakaway. Hudler then put the Red Wings ahead 2-1, when he blew a low slap-shot past goalie Luongo on the first shootout attempt.
"It was a fun game to be a part of so I just would have let the boys play and settle it out old-school style," Luongo said. "But you know, shootouts sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."
Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard then made saves from Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin to ensure victory.
Tags: