In Pittsburgh, the Penguins took a 4-0 lead in the first period on Wednesday night, but the Detroit Red Wings responded with two in the second and two in the third, before Jake Walman scored 2:13 in extra time to send Detroit to a 5-4 win.
“That was a great game,” Walman said. “I think the boys showed a lot of resilience. Knew that wasn’t good enough after the first [period]. So we dialed it in after that.”
Magnus Hellberg made 19 saves in relief of Ville Husso, who made eight saves in the first period.
The Red Wings improved to 15-11-7.
Pittsburgh scored four times in the first period, including a pair from Jason Zucker.
“We just didn’t play the game the right way,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I mean, it’s as simple as that. We didn’t play the game the right way. We didn’t manage the game. We didn’t manage the puck. We’re not playing a collective game right now.
“The game is too difficult if you don’t play in a five-man unit out there. For whatever reason the last few games, we’re disconnected.”
Drew O’Connor and Jeff Carter (power play) also scored in the first, their markers gave the Pens a 2-0 lead.
“It’s a great lesson for us again,” Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin said. “We have lots of experience in here. We’re an old team. We’re not young. Understand we need to play right the whole game.”
Detroit started the rally in the middle frame on goals from Dylan Larkin and Joe Veleno to send the game to third period at 4-2 to Pittsburgh.
“We weren’t awful. We weren’t 4-0 bad,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “We outshot them. You come out of that period, chances were probably even. But it’s just, we left some key plays out there. … We were excellent in the second. We were excellent in the third. We got what we deserved.”
In a span of 1:52 in the third, Detroit got even on goals from Jonatan Berggren at 15:00, and David Perron to tie and force the extra session.
“We felt like we could build our game, and if anything, take it to tomorrow [at the Buffalo Sabres],” Perron said. “It was good we found a way. After we got the second goal, I think the belief kind of got bigger and bigger that we could make it a game here. We found a way. It was great.”
Casey DeSmith made 41 saves in the Pens loss.
“They’re a good team,” DeSmith said. “They came hard, and they kept pushing, even when they were down four goals. Credit to them for playing hard.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.