DETROIT – For those who like hard hits, or great goaltending, or controversial calls, or impactful special teams, or late-game drama, or villains becoming heroes, or nearly any other hockey trope you can think of, the Minnesota Wild’s return from a two-week break had a little bit of all of that — and more.
When the last of the ice chips had settled onto the frozen surface of Little Caesars Arena, the Wild had rallied from two goals down with less than seven minutes to play in regulation, they had tied the game with an extra attacker on the ice, they had killed a rare overtime penalty on a call that — let’s just say — was interesting, and they got the winner on a breakaway after Marco Rossi was freed from what he said felt like the longest two minutes of his career.
Minnesota 4, Detroit 3 in overtime. And it was so much fun that they’ll do it all again on Tuesday when the Red Wings come to St. Paul for the rematch.
“It’s a huge two points and a huge, huge battle from every guy,” said defenseman Brock Faber, who came back from his stellar work at the 4 Nations Face-Off to log more than 30 minutes of ice time on Saturday.
With the Wild controlling the play in overtime, Rossi swiped at the puck, trying to pry it away from Detroit forward Patrick Kane. Kane took a stride, then went down in what Wild fans would call a dive, drawing the penalty and giving the Red Wings two minutes of a 4-on-3 advantage.
But Marc-Andre Fleury made two of his 27 saves for the game to keep the Wings off the board, just long enough for Joel Eriksson-Ek to feed Rossi with a pass as the diminutive Austrian got out of the box, springing Rossi on a breakaway. Rossi appeared to lose control of the puck as he neared the crease, but it slipped past Detroit goalie Cam Talbot and over the line anyway, giving the Wild their sixth win in the past eight games.
“It didn’t feel like two minutes, to be honest,” Rossi said of his stay in solitary confinement. Ask to describe how he scored the game-winner, he gave away no secrets.
As Alex DeBrincat gave the home team an early lead, Minnesota struggled to find offense anywhere near the Detroit crease until the final seconds of the opening period, when Talbot thwarted a point-blank shot by Marcus Johansson to keep the Wild scoreless.
Detroit began the middle frame with a strong push, testing Fleury a half-dozen times, and getting the game’s first power play. DeBrincat got a puck at the top of the crease during the man advantage and snapped a shot that beat Fleury but hit the pipe and crossbar before settling in the crease behind the goalie. While DeBrincat celebrated what he thought was his goal, Dylan Larkin celebrated as well, then swatted the loose puck over the goal line. After a lengthy video review, it was declared a good goal for Larkin, doubling the Red Wings’ advantage.
When the Wild finally got a power play, they made it count, with Matt Boldy’s shot from the blue line tipped in front of the net by Hinostroza. The puck popped up over the goalie and Hinstroza was able to knock it out of the air and over the goal line. It was the second goal for Hinostroza in the three Wild games he has played since being claimed off waivers from Nashville on Feb. 5.
With 20 seconds left in the period, Faber was leveled by DeBrincat while coming around the back of the Detroit net. It was a clean by hard check, which produced a roar from the crowd, and touched off a scrum when Boldy and Rossi came to Faber’s defense. It ended with the Red Wings back on the power play as Boldy drew two penalties, while Detroit’s Andrew Copp received a roughing minor, but no further punishment despite delivering an elbow to Boldy’s head during the clash.
“It’s a brotherhood here. We’re all family,” Faber said. “To get hit like that, having guys step in for you. Obviously I’d do the same, and any guy in that scrum would’ve done the same. It means a lot to me.”
Detroit needed just 22 seconds of power play at the start of the third to go up 3-1 when Lucas Raymond ripped a wrist shot into the upper right corner behind Fleury. DeBrincat was in the crease when the shot came in and made slight contact with Fleury, prompting a challenge by the Wild. After another thorough review, the goal was allowed to stand. The unsuccessful challenge meant a delay of game penalty on the Wild, giving Detroit its third power play of the game, but the Wild killed it off.
“That’s big. We needed a kill there when we had the challenge and it didn’t go our way,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “That’s where you have to be able to get a kill and come up big and we were able to do that and I thought it built some momentum for us moving forward.”
With a delayed penalty upcoming on Detroit, Boldy put the puck low and through a crowd in front of Talbot to pull Minnesota back within a goal, only to see the Red Wings kill the ensuing Wild power play.
But they sent Fleury to the bench for an extra attacker with more than two minutes to play, and Marcus Foligno banked a shot off the goalie and in to forge a tie with 91 seconds left in regulation.
Talbot, the former Wild goalie and one of Fleury’s good friends, finished with 35 saves for Detroit.
By getting the start on Saturday, Fleury appeared in his 1,045th career NHL game, moving him into second place in the league’s record books for games played by a goalie. He is also second — to New Jersey legend Martin Brodeur — in minutes played and wins.
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