Abdelkader helps lift Detroit to comeback shootout victory over Buffalo

 

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – A Gordie Howe hat trick for Justin Abdelkader, a milestone and all-Michigan goal in Drew Miller’s first of the year and a shootout victory.

That’s what Tuesday night brought for the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena in their tilt with the Buffalo Sabres. Abdelkader had two goals, an assist and a fight; Miller (Lansing) sniped his first of the year, set up by Abdelkader (Muskegon) and Luke Glendening (Grand Rapids); Tomas Tatar potted his ninth of the year, and Brad Richards scored the only goal in the shootout to help lift Detroit to a 5-4 victory. Detroit also posted a season-high 46 shots on goal.

“It feels good, but at the same time I feel like I’ve been getting chances, the puck just hasn’t been going in; that’s how the game works sometimes,” Abdelkader said. “When those things happen, you’ve just got to keep working hard and stick to the simple things and help the team out. It’s not always going to be points. You’ve got to contribute some way.”

Photos by Michael Caples/MiHockey

Despite closing it out in the shootout, Tuesday night still marked the Red Wings’ fifth-straight game – and sixth time in eight games – in which they’ve blown a third-period lead. After the game, Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill joked about whether that counted as a blown lead or a come-from-behind win.

“A little bit of both, obviously,” Blashill said. “I thought we did a lot of really good stuff. I thought in the second period we had chances to make it 4-1, maybe make it 4-2 once they scored, but unfortunately we didn’t. In the end, we scored four goals; that should be enough.”

The birthday boy struck early for Detroit, as Tatar took a pass in the high slot from Mike Green, then curled around and ripped a wicked backhand shot past Ullmark to give Detroit the 1-0 lead just 1:34 into the opening period.

Abdelkader then recorded his sixth of the season at 10:32 of the period, as a Jonathan Ericsson point shot hit him in the chest in front of the Buffalo goal and bounced past Ullmark, who had no idea where the puck was as it floated by.

But Evander Kane’s 2-on-1 snipe past Petr Mrazek cut the Wings’ lead to 2-1 with just 2:30 left in the period on the Sabres’ 16th shot on goal.

At 4:21 of the middle frame, Miller took a pass from Abdelkader near the left dot and tucked a wrist shot away in the far corner past Ullmark to regain the two-goal lead for his team. It marked Miller’s first of the season and 100th career point in a Red Wings sweater, something unbeknownst to him.

“Abby got the puck behind the net, and I just tried to find a spot in the slot there and get a shot off quick,” Miller said. “It was nice to get the first one out of the way finally; I’ve been waiting a while on that one. It feels great to finally contribute offensively for the team and get that goal.

“I’ve been getting closer and closer, and a lot of the boys have been letting me know that I’ve been getting a little closer, a little closer each game, so it’s nice to get that first one and put that behind you and keep going forward now.

Late in the second period, Kane and Zetterberg jousted in the corner before Kane decided to drop the gloves and fight the Wings’ captain. Smith and others came to Zetterberg’s defense, which resulted in Smith getting an extra two minutes to give Buffalo a power play. But that’s something Blashill said he hopes his team does all year long.

“I would tell Brendan Smith to get involved in that every day, all day,” Blashill said. “He’s going in to help Hank out and I was really glad he jumped in there, really glad he jumped in there, and I’d tell him to do it again, for sure, and if we’ve got to kill a penalty for it, we’ll kill a penalty for it. Over the long haul of the year, we’ll stick up for each other all day long.”

And it took all of five seconds for the Sabres to pull to within one goal again, as Girgensons deflected home a puck at 17:09 to make it a 3-2 contest.

For the fifth consecutive game and sixth time in eight outings, the Red Wings blew a third-period lead. This time, it took less than a minute, as Kane added his second of the game, a power play tally, banging home his own rebound to make it a 3-3 game.

And Zach Bogosian potted his first goal of the season just 3:22 later, a shot from the top of the left circle that found its way through Mrazek’s five hole, to give the Sabres their first lead of the game. Ristolainen drew a helper on the goal, his fourth of the game, factoring in on all of Buffalo’s goals.

But with 6:29 left in the third period, Abdelkader scored his second of the game on the power play, cutting across the middle of the Buffalo zone and firing a low shot through Ullmark’s five hole to even it up at four aside to send the game into overtime

The Wings’ penalty kill unit of Jonathan Ericsson, Luke Glendening and Miller came up huge for Detroit in overtime with Nyquist in the box, keeping the Sabres at bay, despite a hit post from Kane.

“Unreal kill by those guys, had one the other night, as well,” Blashill said. “The willingness to block shots is incredible. It takes a special person to basically put your whole body in front there, including your face, so I thought it was an unreal job by them.”

With nothing solved in the extra frame, the Red Wings headed to their first shootout of the season, where Mrazek stopped all Buffalo shooters and Richards scored the only goal for Detroit to take the second of two points.

“It was a wild game, for sure,” Abdelkader said. “I thought we dominated it and had some good chances there throughout the game, obviously gave a little too much defensively and a few mistakes, but nice to see the puck go in for us. I thought our penalty kill did a great job. In overtime, that’s huge; it’s never easy to defend a 4-on-3. And then Petr obviously made three saves and Richie got the goal, so it’s nice to win one in overtime, a few too many games in overtime here as of late, but we’ll take the points.”