Red Wings move one step closer to playoffs with win over Nashville
By Michael Caples –
DETROIT – The Red Wings just keep on winning.
Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena, Detroit won their third home game in four days, beating the Nashville Predators by a score of 5-2.
The win moves the Red Wings up to the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference playoff race, one point in front of the Minnesota Wild.
“I think we maybe started a little shaky, I missed an open net on the first shift I think, so we could have had a better start there,” captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “But you know, then they got the first one, and we slowly worked ourselves into the game. Called us on a lot of penalties in the first period, and I think in the second, special teams was good, power play was good and the PK was good, so it was nice to get the two points, and we’ll move on from there.”
The Red Wings conclude the regular season in Dallas on Saturday.
Detroit’s 54 points has them at the No. 7 spot, while Columbus and Minnesota are tied with 53 points (the Wild hold the tiebreaker of regulation wins). The Blue Jackets picked up a win over Dallas to keep their playoff hopes alive, and keep the Red Wings from being able to secure their 22nd straight trip to the postseason.
Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen, Patrick Eaves, Pavel Datsyuk and Justin Abdelkader all scored for the Red Wings in the home victory.
When asked about the balanced scoring his team has found of late, Zetterberg said it’s been both a combination of power-play success, and hard work from top to bottom. Franzen’s goal came with the man-advantage.
“It helps when the power plays works,” Zetterberg said. “It gives us momentum, and I think also that all four lines are creating offense right now. It’s nice when the guys before you, the shift before it’s been in their end the whole time and you start with a face-off in their end or you start in their end instead of starting in your end. I think everybody’s working hard, doing a good job, and we’ve got to keep doing that.”
Jimmy Howard picked up his 20th win of the shortened NHL regular season.
Mike Fisher and Craig Smith scored for the Predators, who fall to 16-22-9 on the season.
If the Wings maintain the No. 7 spot in the West, they would take on Anaheim in the first round of the 2013 NHL Playoffs.
When Eaves was asked if the Wings were playing their best hockey of the season right now, he responded quickly.
“Yeah, and it’s the most important time,” Eaves said. “This is hopefully a good sign of things to come, and hopefully we can continue this on Saturday and see what happens after that.”
Fisher opened the scoring in the contest, burying a pass from Rich Clune on a two-on-one rush toward Howard just 1:46 into the contest.
Filppula tied the game up for the Red Wings five minutes later, beating Mason off a pass from Franzen for his ninth goal of the season.
After Smith’s goal gave the Predators another one-goal lead, the Wings seized control of the contest.
First, it was Franzen tying the game, as the Red Wings’ power forward roofed the puck past Mason for his 14th goal of the season. Damien Brunner and Datsyuk picked up assists on the play.
Then, in the goal that would turn out to be the game-winner, Jordin Tootoo skated through the Nashville zone with some impressive stickhandling before sending a backhand pass through traffic to Patrick Eaves, who scored on a one-timer. The goal gave the Red Wings their first lead of the night.
“Well I thought they were great, and they were great all night,” coach Mike Babcock said of the Eaves, Tootoo and Emmerton line. “They did a real good job. They had one tough shift, but other than that, they played real good for us.”
Datsyuk scored in the final minute of the second period, firing a shot between Shea Weber’s stick and shins for his 15th goal of the season.
Abdelkader increased the Wings’ lead in the third period, burying a rebound during a three-on-two rush up ice with linemates Zetterberg and Datsyuk.
“It was just a good play,” Abdelkader said about his goal. “Pav to Z, Z put it on net, and I was just driving to the net in my lane and it came right to me.”
The Muskegon native said it was hard to ignore the Hockeytown faithful supporting the Wings from the stands.
“Yeah it was awesome,” Abdelkader said. “That video that they showed with about five minutes left, it was great, it was kind of emotional, but it was great to see over all the years, all the fans that have supported the team and been here night in and night out, without them, the organization wouldn’t be where it’s at. They’ve been a huge backing and a huge part of this team’s success.