There was no stopping this, not on this night, no way. The Detroit Red Wings kept churning, past bouncing pucks and missed chances, and they kept skating through the thickest tension imaginable.
Yes, sometimes in hockey you are rewarded for supreme effort. The Red Wings gave it all, unrelenting and unblinking, and took one giant stride toward a historic comeback.
This was all shrieks and sighs in Joe Louis Arena, until finally came the mightiest roar. One more time, the Red Wings rallied, scoring three goals in the third period to stun the Sharks 3-1 on Tuesday. From a 3-0 deficit, the Red Wings have tied this terrific series 3-3, and if they attack like this, they will pull off the once thinkable.
Wow. Game 7 is Thursday night in San Jose, and you can bet the Sharks will be wearing extra-tight skates. I don’t know if San Jose is choking, but I’m darn sure Detroit is squeezing as firmly and viciously as possible.
The Red Wings outshot the Sharks 45-25, and it actually was more dominant than that. But midway through the third period, the Sharks led 1-0, which dissuaded Detroit not a bit. Henrik Zetterberg deflected in a Niklas Kronwall shot to tie the score, and then Pavel Datsyuk fed Valtteri Filppula for the winning goal about two minutes later. And honestly, I don’t know the last time I’ve heard Joe Louis Arena that loud.
The noise has to be shaking the Sharks down to their little teal boots, because in back-to-back games, the Red Wings have outscored them 6-2 in the third period. How did frustration not creep in for the Red Wings when they dominated but couldn’t solve goaltender Antti Niemi?
“You don’t really have any choice,” Zetterberg said. “And I think we’ve been there many times. Many times we made the other goalie look really good. You just keep going, keep going.”
Now they go back to San Jose with a chance to become the fourth team in NHL history to win a series after trailing 3-0. It is just about the only thing this team hasn’t accomplished during its remarkable 20-year postseason run.
This was the first game in the series that wasn’t decided by one goal, but that’s only because Darren Helm scored into an empty net late. It has been that tight, so when someone asked Detroit coach Mike Babcock how his team could rally from down 0-3, his answer made sense.
“I didn’t think we should’ve been down 0-3,” he said. “We played real well. That’s how tight this series has been, there hasn’t been much to pick between us.”
There’s something to pick now. The Red Wings are the weathered veterans, and the Sharks are the wobbly group known to be, ahem, weak of mind. They wouldn’t be human if doubt wasn’t creeping in.
The question is, how did doubt never creep into the Red Wings’ heads, after losing all those close games?
“We still believe — simple,” Datsyuk said, then smiled.
The simple part of this game was, the Red Wings kept firing pucks at Niemi until he couldn’t help but buckle. They missed all sorts of chances, but when the game had to be won, they kept coming.
“You just keep pouring shots on, and you’re going to score,” winger Danny Cleary said. “We kept saying, ‘We can do this. Pressure, pressure, shoot, shoot.’ And the crowd was amazing. I think that’s the loudest I’ve heard ‘The Joe’ since I’ve been here.”
This was a night of shrieks and shots, with the Wings doing most of the shooting and the crowd doing most of the shrieking.
A series that had shifted suddenly has shifted back, with the Wings doing all the skating and the Sharks just trying to hang in. When the Wings pulled off that 4-3 miracle in Game 5 in San Jose, they were outshot 42-22. Goaltender Jimmy Howard saved them in that one. Niemi was trying to save the Sharks in this one.
Attrition? That’s what it is, always. Both teams were missing power forwards with injuries — Johan Franzen for Detroit and Ryane Clowe for San Jose. Both teams were skating with an assortment of other wounds, from damaged limbs to battered prides.
The Wings shook off their wounds and inflicted a crushing one on the Sharks. Anything can happen in a Game 7, but the way the Wings played on this night, you have to think history is calling.
