Tonight was another very important game for the Red Wings in their run for the playoffs. The Calgary Flames rolled in to town just one point behind the Wings in the Western Conference standings. Miikka Kiprusoff was in net for the Flames and for the Red Wings it was Jimmy Howard.
There was a really good pace to the first period but no scoring. The stats were pretty even. Both teams looked pretty good and were battling hard. It was shaping up to be a great game.
In the second period the Flames dumped the puck into the corner and it came hard off the boards right to Langkow. He fired a perfect shot that got up and under the crossbar making it one to nothing Calgary. It was a pretty easy goal for the Flames on kind of a lucky bounce.
Later in the second Datsyuk took a pass from Holmstrom as he was flying up the wing and shot a backhander. It looked like Kiprusoff should have had it but somehow it got through him and went in the net. That tied the game at one and gave Datsyuk his 20th goal of the season.
Nearing the end of the second period the Red Wings went on a power play when Calgary was called for too many men on the ice. During the power play Lidstrom fired the puck from the point. It was going well wide of the net but Holmstrom redirected it with the heel of his stick and scored. It was classic Holmstrom and it put the Red Wings up two to one.
The score held until the end of the second period. The hectic pace and playoff atmosphere continued throughout the period.
In the third period Bourque shot the puck and Howard made a nice stop. The rebound came to Iginla though and he quickly put it in the net to tie the game at two.
Just a few seconds later the same line was on the ice for the Flames and they started pressuring hard. Things got a little sloppy in the Red Wings’ end. Iginla fired a shot and it hit Bourque in the shin and went in the net. Just like that the Flames had the lead three to two.
Late in the third period Detroit had about a minute of power play time. They pulled the goalie to make it six on four. Just after the power play ended Higgins threw the puck down the ice and put it in the empty net making it four to two Flames. He must have thought they were still on the penalty kill because if he’d have missed the net it would have been icing.
That was it for this game. The Red Wings looked good up until the third period when it looked like they just rolled over. I don’t know if Calgary stepped up their play or if the Red Wings eased off but either way the third period was much different than the first two. The Wings were outshot 15 to 4 in the third. The Flames had a couple of power plays in that time but that wasn’t really that much of a factor.
It was a bad loss for the Wings. They just keep making it harder on themselves.
This 4-2 loss brings us to:
31-23-12
74 points
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