Red Wings unable to snap Sharks’ unbeaten streak in shootout loss

 

By Stefan Kubus –

DETROIT – The San Jose Sharks entered Monday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings as the only team who hadn’t been defeated in regulation (7-0-1).

The Red Wings were unable to hand the Sharks that record-blemishing loss, though it took a shootout to find the one and only shot to decide an outcome. Led by a 24-save shutout effort by Antti Niemi and a Logan Couture shootout goal, the Sharks defeated Detroit 1-0 at Joe Louis Arena. Jimmy Howard stopped 24 shots in the loss.

“You can tell early on it was two teams that were tired from traveling all day yesterday, so I think both teams were trying to find their legs out there,” Howard said. “It was one of those games for a goalie where they’re even more difficult to play in because one screw-up can cost you the game.”

Howard complimented his young, fairly inexperienced defensive corps – one without the likes of regulars Niklas Kronwall (concussion) and Jonathan Ericsson (paternity leave) – in front of him that kept a dynamic Sharks offense off the board. The defense also featured a youngster making his NHL debut in 20-year-old Xavier Ouellet.

“I thought they did a tremendous job,” Howard said. “They kept it simple. If something wasn’t there, they weren’t afraid to go off the glass and out. It may be a dirty play or one of those plays you’re not accustomed to being a Red Wing, but when you’re missing Kronner and Big E… our guys stepped up.”

Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock echoed those thoughts, stating how pleased he was with the defensive effort.

“I thought there was two pretty good teams there,” Babcock said. “I thought our young D played real good and there wasn’t much in way of scoring chances either way. Both teams played real tight, and I thought it was a good game.”

 

The best chance in the opening frame came off the stick of Jordin Tootoo. About five minutes into the game, Tootoo took a pass off the boards down the left side, broke in with a defender just behind him, but Niemi shut the door.

That was the story of the first two periods for both sides, as both goaltenders each turned away every shot they faced through 40 minutes, with San Jose holding a 19-11 edge in shots on goal.

Defenseman Brendan Smith easily had the chance of the game with five minutes left in the third period. Henrik Zetterberg fired a pass across the Sharks’ zone to a wide-open Smith, but Niemi managed to make the save. At the end of that same sequence, James Sheppard took an interference penalty that gave Detroit a late man-advantage opportunity.

The Red Wings had some solid looks on the power play, but could not capitalize.

After 65 minutes, the goals were nowhere to be found. So, it was onto the shootout where at least one goal had to be scored.

In the shootout, after two scoreless rounds, Couture came down the middle, made a backhand-forehand deke to beat Howard on the blocker side.

It was up to Todd Bertuzzi to score next. The 38-year-old veteran came down the right side, got Niemi to bite on a deke, but the San Jose goaltender waited it out with him and turned away the shot with his right pad.

“It was a hell of a save, wasn’t it?” San Jose head coach Todd McLellan said. “Bert made a great move and had (Niemi) down and out, but he anticipated him going up and got the pad up.

“The goaltenders kind of matched the team play; they were busy at times and not so busy at others. There weren’t a lot of shots from a lot of scoring chances either way, but when called upon, they were sharp.”

With McLellan on the other side, having coached as an associate to Mike Babcock in Detroit, it’s no surprise that both teams played a very similar style, resulting in a deadlocked game.

“We play a similar game,” Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey said. “Todd kind of took Babs’ system over to San Jose so we were kind of playing against each other’s systems; we knew what they were going to bring, they knew us inside and out, so it was a battle of will and I thought it was a fun game with battles in the trenches.”

Ouellet Debuts

Xavier Ouellet made his NHL debut on the back end for Detroit and was part of that aforementioned strong defensive corps.

Ouellet said his fellow rearguards helped make his debut a smooth ride by simply communicating throughout the game.

“I was really excited,” Ouellet said. “I’m pretty proud of what I did. I think I played a strong game.

“All the D-corps, we’ve been working together, talking a lot on the bench and that helps. After every shift, we just talked about what we could do better and stuff like that.”

Mike Babcock has had nothing praise for Ouellet since training camp and through the preseason, and said he liked what Ouellet brought to the ice against the potent Sharks’ offense.

“He’s smart, just knows how to play,” Babcock said. “I liked him from training camp; he’s not a big surprise to me. He’s smart and doesn’t make lots of mistakes. And as a young D, often it’s not so much upside what you do, it’s how few mistakes you make. If you’re conscientious and trustworthy, you get to play a lot.”