Zetterberg scores in OT to give Red Wings 1-0 win over Toronto

By @SKubus –

DETROIT – While fans from Detroit and Toronto dueled with “Let’s Go Red Wings” and “Go Leafs Go” chants, respectively, before the puck even dropped at Joe Louis Arena Saturday night – a trend that continued throughout the night to the point of inaudibly-blown whistles – the two teams themselves brought that same intensity on the ice for nearly 65 minutes.

Each team had five power plays aside, the final shots were 32-30 in favor of Detroit and neither goalie made a mistake until there were only 9.9 seconds remaining in overtime. Fueled by a 30-save shutout from Jonas Gustavsson and a late overtime game-winner from Henrik Zetterberg, the Red Wings squeezed out a hard-fought two points against the Maple Leafs with a 1-0 victory to improve to 3-1-1 on the season.

“The atmosphere in here was awesome here tonight,” Zetterberg said. “A lot of Leafs fans were here and both sides were really loud, so it was fun to play, but definitely nice to get the overtime winner.”

The electric atmosphere brought forth an opening period full of animosity and a total of seven penalties. But that’s all part of the package when these two Original Six teams do battle.

“It was a lot of fun, it’s always fun to play against the Leafs,” Gustavsson said. “They always have some fans here, too, so it almost feels like a playoff game.”

Numerous grade-A scoring chances off the sticks of Justin Abdelkader, Tomas Tatar, Luke Glendening and Gustav Nyquist might have found twine on other nights, but they were all stymied by Bernier throughout the course of the contest. Likewise, Toronto’s Mike Santorelli and James van Riemsdyk both maneuvered their ways past the Red Wings defense on separate occasions for clear-cut breakaways, but as he did the entire game, Gustavsson – a former Maple Leaf himself – matched Bernier save-for-save.

“That’s how it is in the game; sometimes you’ve got to make a couple saves. That’s what I’m here for,” Gustavsson said. “The guys did a really good job. They had some shots, but most shots were from outside and I could see the puck and they cleared the rebounds.”

While the netminders were flawless through regulation, the Detroit penalty kill was, as well. After successfully killing off five minor penalties, the Red Wings now stand at 17-for-17 on the season, second only to Winnipeg at 18-for-18.

“The PK has been great,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “It works real hard and competes, good goaltending, guys were organized.”

In the dying seconds of overtime, Zetterberg took a cross-ice pass from defenseman Niklas Kronwall just inside the Toronto zone and one-timed it past Bernier from the top of the right circle for the win.

For Zetterberg, it was his first of the season and quite a nice follow-up to a four-assist night Friday in Toronto.

“He had a tough game against Boston and knew it,” Babcock said. “As a good leader and a determined player that he is, he really dug in. Obviously, tonight’s game, it’s harder to have the kind of energy you and in game one, but I thought he got better as the game went on, and so did our team.”

Detroit heads to Montreal to take on the Canadiens Tuesday before hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday.

Notes:  Nyquist entered the contest having scored in each of his first four games this season. A goal Saturday night would’ve made him the first Red Wings player since Sergei Fedorov to score in each of his first five games. Fedorov did so in 1993-94, the same year he won the Hart Trophy as league MVP.