After Wednesday night, Craig Anderson will be having nightmares of Detroit’s Andreas Athanasiou.
It seemed that every play, shot and timeout featured Athanasiou.
Jimmy Howard made 33 stops to save the Red Wings in a 2-1 OT win over Ottawa Wednesday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
And in the end, all the horrors were and are warranted as Athanasiou scored both goals in a 2-1 win for the Red Wings over Anderson’s Ottawa Senators.
The winner came just six seconds into extra time as Athanasiou picked up the puck off the center ice face-off and raced into the zone and beat Anderson to his right up high on the backhand.
“When I was going in, the puck was bouncing a little, and I could see Karlsson coming up on my left side,” he said. “I knew my best chance was a backhand up high, and I got it to go into the top of the net.”
Athanasiou missed on a penalty shot in the game and buzzed the net most of the night.
“He’s got so much speed, but I thought I had his number for most of the night,” Anderson said. “He just made a great shot to end it.”
Jimmy Howard made 33 saves in the OT win as the Red Wings improved to 16-16-7.
“It was good to finally get one in overtime,” Howard said. “If not for [Anderson], I think we would have won it by a lot more.”
The game was fierce up and down affair with Howard and Anderson flashing pads, gloves, body part, and relying on iron to save them and their clubs; both goalies combined for 66 saves in the game.
“You need elite goaltending to win in this league, and Jimmy has given us that a lot of times this season. He looks on top of his game right now, and when that’s true, he doesn’t give up easy goals,” Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said after the game.
Ryan Dzingel scored the lone Sens goal with 39 seconds gone in the third period.
“I think like any young player, they have to learn how consistent you have to be to be successful in the National Hockey League,” Blashill said. “I think that is one of the biggest lessons young guys have to learn. I don’t care who you are. [Dylan] Larkin’s had to learn it. [Athanasiou] has had to learn it. I hope that he comes Friday and plays the same way.”
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Red Wings highlights]
Anderson made 33 saves for the Senators in the loss but should be credited with saving the Senators a loser’s point.
“We did a lot of very good things out there tonight,” Senators head coach Guy Boucher said. “Our top two lines were great and our goaltending was outstanding, but so was Detroit’s.”
The loss dropped the Senators to 3-8-3 in their 14 and 12-18-8 overall.
“We’ve talked a lot about playing better hockey on the road, and we are finally starting to see that happen. We lost a shootout in Tampa (4-3 on Dec. 21) lost 1-0 in Florida (on Dec. 23) and now this one tonight. We just have to start winning a few,” Boucher said after the game.
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