Detroit falls to Boston in OT on Thanksgiving Eve
By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – In a tight game that saw the Wings outplay their opponent, an overtime winner from Frank Vatrano proved to be the difference in Detroit’s 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Thanksgiving Eve.
Colin Miller’s game-tying goal with 1:44 remaining forced overtime for the B’s, who ultimately triumphed. Vatrano also scored in regulation for Boston, while former Red Wings netminder Jonas Gustavsson stopped 32 of 34 shots. Pavel Datsyuk scored his second of the season – the 300th of his career – and Tomas Tatar netted his seventh of the campaign. Petr Mrazek made 19 of 22 saves. Another former Red Wing – Landon Ferraro – recorded his second point in as many games with his new team, assisting on Vatrano’s first goal.
Detroit fell to 11-8-3 on the season, while Boston improved to 12-8-1, passing Detroit in the standings despite being tied in points because the B’s have a game in hand.
“I thought we did lots of great stuff to be honest with you,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought in a lot of ways, it was our best game of the year. We’ve gotta find a way to score the third goal. Obviously, when they hang around there and it’s 2-1, that can happen a little bit, and I think when you go into overtime, we’ve talked about it, you leave a bit up to chance. You’d like to win more than not, but I think overtime by its nature over time ends up evening out. We’ve got to find a way to score the third goal, but we can build off that. We talked in the room, if we play ten games like that, we’ll win eight of them, so let’s keep playing that way.”
Vatrano opened the scoring at 7:11 of the first period, as he took a low slapper from the top of the right circle and blasted it past Mrazek. Ferraro, who was claimed off waivers by Boston just days ago, recorded the secondary assist to give him points in each of his first two games with the B’s.
Datsyuk flipped a short backhand saucer pass to himself over the stick of a diving Torey Krug, then roofed it on Gustavsson for his 300th career goal. Datsyuk became the ninth player in franchise history to hit the mark.
“It’s big milestone for me and I’m happy I do it with this team, my team with lots of good teammates, it’s fun,” Datsyuk said.
Colin Miller tied the game up late at 18:16, wiring home a drop pass from Loui Eriksson from the top of the right circle, just seconds after Detroit had killed precious time in the Bruins’ zone. Miller’s second of the season forced overtime, where he would help deliver the winner.
In overtime, 3:32 into the extra fame, Miller sent a slap pass from the blue line down to the stick of Vatrano in the high slot, who redirected his second of the game past Mrazek to seal his team’s victory.
“It’s always hard when you don’t get the points you think you deserve,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “I thought overall it was a good game, but it’s a tight game. They played well, too, so obviously their second goal there when they tied it up, that was a tough one. I thought we played pretty good all the way.”
Detroit will look to get back into the win column Friday night, as the team hosts the young Edmonton Oilers at Joe Louis Arena.
