Dallas set the tone in their own arena by fucking with us from the jump. We were prodded into a fight via Jonathon Ericsson in the first period. Ericsson put the snarf in his place. Apparently, the Stars have one speed: douche.
They scored first on a cheap goal. It was answered before the first ended by Pavel Datsyul, who calmly swooped in for the strike. We kept the momentum for most of the second, taking a lead on a Gustav Nyquist goal. Then the shit hit the fan.
For five minutes at the end of the period, Dallas scored three times. None of the goals were Jimmy Howard’s fault – he made a great save and they put it back, he was shielded blind, and finally, he was pitchforked down.
The Red Wings must have received a strong talk from Coach Mike Babcock at intermission. It took only a couple of minutes for Joseph Kindl (in his first game back) to put us within one. 45-seconds later, he tied it after missing all of 2015.
Like in Chicago, our glory was short lived. Must be a road thing. Dallas snarfed their way into our net to re-take the lead, then went back up two on a cheap power play. Luckily, they shot the puck illegally out of play to give us a penalty. Justin Abdelkader cashed it in.
Down to our final minutes, Detroit was forced to pull Jonas Gustavsson, who came in to replace Howard down 6-4. Datsyuk again made them pay, tying the game with the help of Abdelkader. He gave their netminder a taste of their own medicine, bumping him ever so slightly.
Their coach was a wreck, and we brought plenty of fans into their building. Nikolas Kronwall was seen huddling his troops (who lost their captain after two periods) before overtime began. Quickly into the extra period, Kronwall faked the pass and drove to the net, backhanding the game-winner!
Their goalie threw his stick down in disgust. The crowd was stunned. We hope Henrik Zetterberg is ok – all the more reason to remember to enjoy it, Red Wings fans. Go have yourself a wet drink!