Red Wings drop shootout for fourth time in 11 days
By @SKubus –
DETROIT – Another shootout, another loss for the Detroit Red Wings.
For the fourth time in 11 days, Detroit failed to grab the game’s second point, falling to hot rookie goaltender Calvin Pickard and the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout, 2-1.
“It’s almost comical,” captain Henrik Zetterberg said of the shootout woes. “At least it lasted a lot longer than round three. Tough start, though. They come in and score two right away, then Petr shut the door for a while and we had a few chances to win, but we can’t get over that hump.”
Pickard stopped 34 of 35, while veteran Jarome Iginla notched the shootout winner. Petr Mrazek turned aside 22 of 23 between the pipes, while Pavel Datsyuk scored the only goal for the Red Wings, who dropped to 1-7 in the shootout and 17-8-9 overall.
“We directed 71 shots at their net, and we got one goal, so we’re obviously not scoring very good at this point, but I thought we played well,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we had the puck the majority of the game, and in the end, their goalie was good, and we didn’t finish.”
The loss marked Detroit’s sixth straight, a continuation of the team’s longest winless drought of the year. But as they said after Tuesday’s loss to Columbus, the Red Wings are trying to enjoy the shootout more and take the pressure off themselves.
“I think we’ve just got to go out and try to have fun with it and enjoy it,” captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Obviously, you’ve got to have confidence when you take your penalty shot, and I think you’ve just got to try to have fun.”
Babcock praised Mrazek for giving Detroit a chance in the shootout. After he was beat by Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene, Colorado’s first two shooters, Mrazek shut the door on the next six to give Detroit a fighting chance.
“It’s a big disappointment, but we just have to work out hard and be focused on every puck,” Mrazek said.
The Red Wings were presented with a huge opportunity late in the opening period to strike first, as Max Talbot took a four-minute high-sticking penalty on defenseman Niklas Kronwall, but to no avail. The Red Wings carried a 10-5 shot advantage off the ice after the opening 20 minutes.
As an uneventful second period came to a close, Detroit found a higher gear during the last minute, peppering Pickard with a few close scoring chances, but the young netminder and the Avs defense kept the contest scoreless.
Datsyuk finally broke the stalemate at 4:52 of the final frame, a twisted wrister from the high slot on a nice centering feed from Riley Sheahan in the corner.
With 4:15 remaining, Colorado rearguard Erik Johnson tied the game up with a low shot from the point that squeezed its way underneath Mrazek’s pad and into the net. The goal came just 10 seconds after Tomas Jurco received a minor penalty and was only the 15th man-advantage goal of the year for the league’s 27th-ranked powerplay in Colorado.
At that stage of the game with things tied up, it seemed like a bad case of deja vu. And sure enough, overtime couldn’t solve anything and the teams needed a shootout.
Unlike recent games, Detroit went the distance with the Avalanche, lasting eight rounds before Iginla scored the winner for his club in the ninth. Brendan Smith needed to score to keep Detroit alive, but could not do so. Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar also lit the lamp in the shootout for the Red Wings.
“It’s definitely pretty intense, but you just kind of have to block that out and think about what move you’re going to make,” Sheahan said. “It’s kind of cool being in that position and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t come out with a better outcome.
“I saw a lot of guys going glove and not having that much success, so I thought maybe if I could get one blocker, then maybe it would go in, but he made a great save.”
The Red Wings have a family skate planned for Monday, and with things going so poorly, it probably couldn’t come at a better time.
“I said, ‘Christmas is here whether we feel like it is or not’ but guys got family in town and we’re going to practice anyway for 30 minutes,” Babcock said. “We were going to do that whether they were here or not, so they might as well come down and enjoy it. And we get to know some of them better.
“The sun’s gonna get up tomorrow. My life is good, I’m fine. We should’ve gotten the second point. We didn’t.”
Detroit next hosts the lowly Buffalo Sabres Tuesday night before a brief Christmas break.