What is it with two-goals lead in the NHL this young season?
On Friday night, the Detroit Red Wings blew leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before losing the Blackhawks, 4-3, in extra time in Chicago.
Max Domi scored in the extra session to complete the Hawks rally and win.
“I’d be lying if I said I saw [Patrick Kane] because if I saw him, I’d probably give him the puck,” Domi said. “No, I don’t know how I picked [it] off there, but [I] saw some open ice and I kind of knew I was going to shoot far side.
“To be honest, [I] had to make sure I had the puck first. You strip the guy, you don’t want to get beat, right? Little bit of a gamble. We’ll take it.”
Petr Mrazek got the start for the Blackhawks and made 15 saves, yielding three goals before departing the game with an apparent injury.
Alex Stalock made 10 saves in relief.
“[Mrazek] let us know that he wasn’t feeling great,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “He told me he had a small injury at the end of the second period. He knows his body well because he’s had some injuries before. He’s an active goaltender. He gave us a heads-up and said he could finish the period.
“[It’s] early in the season and, the solid goalie that he is, we took the precaution. I just talked to the trainers and the doctor, and I think he’ll have to take tonight to see how it is. Tomorrow we’ll make the call and see how he progresses.”
Pius Suter and Dylan Larkin staked the Red Wings to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Chicago got one back in the middle frame off a strike from Andreas Athanasiou.
Dominik Kubalik restored the two-goal lead, 3-1, for Detroit with a goal in the second period.
“There’s some will there within our team,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “We’ll probably look back at that [third] period. Analytically, it might be one of our better periods as far as chances for and chances against. Obviously, the inability to extend our lead, to get that fourth goal, we had a ton of chances. It’s more about not so much extending the lead, but keeping our lead.
“It’s painful. We got exactly what we deserved in the third.”
In the third period, Philipp Kurashev and Connor Murphy scored for Chicago to force the extra session.
“We just let our foot off the gas,” Larkin said. “They came out to play in the third. We didn’t. We didn’t get the extra point, so it doesn’t look good right now.”
Alex Nedeljkovic. made 25 saves in the Detroit loss.
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