Gustav’s Nyquist’s impressive individual effort in overtime carried the Detroit Red Wings past the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
After an Ottawa turnover, Nyquist controlled the puck on his own for 28 seconds. From the left wing he circled along the blue line, down the right side, behind the goal, then looped again before cutting back from the right side to the left. Finally, with 48 seconds left in the overtime period, Nyquist snapped a shot through traffic and past Senators’ goalie Craig Anderson, ending the game at 3-2.
Mike Hoffman had opened the game’s scoring with 6:19 left in the first period, popping the rebound of a Mark Borowiecki shot past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard.
Justin Abdelkader evened things up with 14 seconds left in the period. Henrik Zetterberg’s shot from the left side went wide of the net but the puck bounced off the back boards and came out the other side to Abdelkader, who put the puck off Anderson and in for a 1-1 tie.
With 6:44 left in the second, Clarke MacArthur made it 2-1 for Ottawa. Kyle Turris sent a centering pass from the left wing that Danny DeKeyser got to but the puck went off him and right to MacArthur for a shot past Howard from the slot.
Zetterberg knotted things up just three seconds into a power play at 3:58 of the third. Pavel Datsyuk won the faceoff back to Niklas Kronwall, who moved it on to Zetterberg for a blast from the top of the opposite circle past Anderson.
Zetterberg’s goal was the only power play tally of the night, with the Red Wings getting three chances on the man-advantage and the Senators getting five.
Howard finished the night with 31 saves on 33 shots. Anderson made 24 stops on 27 shots faced.
The Red Wings conclude their short road trip on Monday, visiting the Boston Bruins.
Tom McCollum was returned to the Grand Rapids Griffins before the game, making room for Jimmy Howard’s return from injured reserve… Both Stephen Weiss and Niklas Kronwall, who left Tuesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres due to injury, were able to play… Daniel Cleary, Joakim Andersson, and Brian Lashoff were the healthy scratches.
