OT Win Gives Perspective

Down 3-1 with only 3 minutes left, the Red Wings were getting the result they deserved. Dominated for most of the night, the Penguins completely controlled the neutral zone. While the Penguins had multiple odd man rushes the Wings seemed to be dumping the puck in continually and throwing sloppy passes all over the ice. The Power Play was held scoreless again and the Penguins seemed to be on cruise control. Howard gave up two goals I'd expect he would want back while the Red Wings could seem to get nothing by Greiss at the other end. Following Kunitz's goal to put the Penguins back up by 2 I had little hope that the Wings would get even a point from this match. Then a great pass from DeKeyser saw the Captain split the defense and fire an absolute missile top shelf to cut the lead to one with 3 minutes remaining. Then despite the Pens controlling the puck and looking to score on the empty net and seal the victory, the Red Wings somehow held on and made one last rush down the ice. Datsyuk, with a man draped over him, walked to his backhand, patient as ever he passed back to Kronwall who fired a wrister on net to tie the game and earn the Wings a point. After being outplayed for 57 minutes I was perfectly content with a tie, and with only a minute left in OT it seemed like we would be headed to the shootout. With only a minute left Greiss fights off a shot by Smith on a 3-2 and the puck finds its way into the corner. Z goes in after it and gets a stick on the Pens outlet pass, pushing in right into the slot where Abdelkader would jump on in and fire one in off the post to steal a Red Wings win.

Tonight is a good game to gain perspective. Tuesday night I commented that because of two blown calls, the Red Wings deserved at least 2 more points in the standings. Now only 48 hours later we see the Red Wings steal 2 points when they deserved nothing. After a season that saw us make the playoffs by only 3 points and finish a point from facing the Penguins rather than the big bad Bruins I have begun counting points early. But let us not forget that it has been all of 8 games into this wonderful season. Despite playing 6 teams I would consider locks for the playoffs and an improved Toronto team, the Red Wings are on pace for 102.5 points. The Power Play still needs work, the defense is still questionable at times and only 14 & 40 are providing offense, but it will work out. You can not make the playoffs based on the first 20 games, you can only miss them. Based on the Red Wing's play thus far while they may not be a top-tier squad, they will be in contention to the bitter end.