The Detroit Red Wings have gotten plenty of bad luck on the injury front this season and they got a bit of unfortunate puck luck while on the power-play this afternoon. This time though, it didn’t cost them.
Down 1-0 to the Minnesota Wild in the first period and with every point vital to Detroit, David Legwand fired a shot that hit the post, bounced off Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper’s back and then sailed across the crease and away from the net.
Defenseman Brendan Smith was already positioning himself towards the net when it happened though and he charged at the rebound before flinging the puck into the net.
You can view that sequence below:
The Red Wings are one point shy of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the second Wild Card spot, but they have played in one less game, not counting their current contest against Minnesota. Columbus won’t play today, so whether or not Detroit finishes the night with an edge in the Wild Card race is entirely dependent on the outcome of this game.
Columbus has a firm lead on the tiebreaker (wins minus shootout victories), so an overtime or shootout loss today won’t allow Detroit to surpass the Blue Jackets.