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Red Wings find a (weird) way to win against Penguins

Pittsburgh Penguins v Detroit Red Wings

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 20: Gustav Nyquist #14 of the Detroit Red Wings scores a second period goal and celebrates with his teammates during the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena on March 20, 2014 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

Leon Halip

People throw out terms like “finding ways to win” a lot in sports, but the Detroit Red Wings are making it difficult to avoid cliches as they keep scrapping their way to playoff contention despite some serious obstacles. Thursday’s 5-4 OT win against the Pittsburgh Penguins captured much of that spirit (with maybe a few extra dashes of oddness).

Let’s just review some of the weird/bad/challenging things the Red Wings faced and ultimately overcame:


  • Shortly after a highly questionable cross checking infraction by James Neal, the Penguins changed a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead heading into the third period with three goals in about three-and-a-half minutes.
  • An injury-depleted team saw more than one lead evaporate; Craig Adams’ 4-4 goal couldn’t have felt good.
  • Neal wasn’t the only important forward to take a shaky penalty. David Legwand received a five-minute major and game misconduct for butt ending Evgeni Malkin in the final minutes of the third. Remarkably, the Red Wings killed off that five-minute power play.
  • The Red Wings then won the game with fractions of a second left thanks to a bizarre Daniel Alfredsson goal:

The Red Wings leave themselves in an increasingly promising situation. While they trail wild card teams Toronto and the New York Rangers as well as top bubble team Washington, they have at least two games in hand on each of those teams.

They have some big games remaining, including one more contest against the Maple Leafs (at Toronto on March 29) and the Columbus Blue Jackets (at Nationwide Arena on March 25). The odds still seem stacked against Detroit in some ways, yet they keep proving that they won’t be an easy out.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins