The Detroit Red Wings were looking for a hero late in the third period of a tie game at SAP Center against the San Jose Sharks. They wound up with two.
Goaltender Petr Mrazek made a miraculous stick save on Joel Ward's backhand from close range with 7:01 to play, Justin Abdelkader scored the go-ahead goal nine seconds later and the Red Wings held on for a 2-1 victory. Mrazek, who was coming off a 22-save shutout of the New Jersey Devils on Monday, made 35 saves and improved to 14-8-3.
Danny DeKeyser scored a first-period goal for the Red Wings, who won their third straight game, all on the road. Ward scored in the first period for San Jose, which is an NHL-worst 5-12-0 at home. The Sharks fell to 0-12-0 at SAP Center when allowing the first goal. They haven't won at home after giving up the first goal since Jan. 29, 2015, when they defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-3.
Abdelkader broke the tie when he ripped a rebound from the high slot past Sharks goaltender Martin Jones moments after Mrazek robbed Ward. Jones stopped Pavel Datsyuk's shot but couldn't control the puck, which caromed out to Abdelkader, who had come off the bench on a change.
Joonas Donskoi nearly put San Jose ahead at 12:08 of the third, but his shot hit a post. Soon after, Mrazek appeared to be out of position after a Red Wings turnover when Ward fired a backhand from 15 feet. Instead of being down a goal, Mrazek had a lead to protect. Jones finished with 23 saves and fell to 16-13-2.
The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead at 9:16 of the first period on DeKeyser's third goal of the season. On a 3-on-2 rush, rookie Dylan Larkin sent a touch pass from the right boards to Henrik Zetterberg, who bolted down the middle of the ice then got the puck to DeKeyser, on his left. DeKeyser snapped a shot from the left circle that beat Jones in the top right corner. The Sharks answered at 10:57 when Ward, planted in the slot, redirected Brent Burns' blast from the point past Mrazek. The goal was Ward's 11th of the season and ended a nine-game drought.
The Red Wings' best chance to score in the second period came with just under 12 minutes left. Tomas Tatar fired a slap shot from the left circle that Jones stopped with his left pad. The rebound went to Datsyuk in the right circle, but Jones stopped his backhand shot. Matt Nieto had a good scoring chance with just over five minutes left in the period, but Mrazek stopped his backhand shot from the left of the crease.
Drew Miller, a key penalty-killer for the Red Wings, returned to the lineup after missing 14 games with a broken jaw. Fellow fourth-liner Tomas Jurco also returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. The Sharks had two power plays in the first period and one in the second, but the Red Wings, who had been struggling on the penalty kill, killed all three.
Sharks Bites
Joel Ward: "I kind of was going one way and I knew he was leaning, so I kind of just tried to stop to get the goalie fading a little bit. He made a save with his paddle there in midair. It's a quick surprise. You think you have a pretty good chance there and they come back on the rush and score."Martin Jones: "I thought we played a pretty good game, just needed a bit more."
No comments:
Post a Comment