Crossing The NHL’s Atlantic Division: Week 19
By Tim Bayer
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Detroit Red Wings
By John Evans of Octopus Thrower
It’s been a week of narrow margins for the Red Wings. They started things off on Friday with a win over the Washington Capitals in the seventh round of a shootout. This was followed up by a 6-5 overtime loss in Washington. The game was bittersweet, as it featured Gustav Nyquist’s first career hat trick, but Alexander Ovechkin still handed the Wings a loss in OT.
The Red Wings followed this up with a rather unimpressive 2-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks Monday night. This victory was noteworthy, however, because Jonas Gustavsson started the game, but left after the first period with dizziness. Jimmy Howard came in to finish the game after the first period. Two goalies, neither gets credit for a shutout.
There’s been a lot of talk this week about Pavel Datsyuk and how he’ll probably participate in the Olympics despite not being healthy enough for the Red Wings. This talk may get put to rest this week, as he could return Thursday against the Florida Panthers.
The Wings will follow up the Florida trip with a game against (you guessed it) the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. It’ll be the last game Detroit plays until coming back from the Olympics, where they’ll continue an Atlantic Division road trip.