Them Pesky Oils; Red Wings 5, Oilers 4 Recap

It was a game of two halves, the first going to Detroit and the second going the Oilers way in a game that was much closer than it should've been.

The Red Wings blew a 4-goal lead they held late in the second period, but two points is two points because the Wings took a 5-4 decision and drew within a point of the Nashville Predators for fifth in the Conference, with 2 games in hand.

Detroit dominated the early going outshooting the Oilers 16-7 in the first frame and opening up a 3-goal lead after one period.

The Wings continued to dominate the second period with innumberable great scoring chances but Oilers goalie, Jeff Deslauriers stood tall, holding for his team a minor chance to get back into the game. But with under 4 minutes to go in the period whilst on the powerplay, Johan Franzen netted his tenth of the season to seemingly put the game out of reach for Edmonton.

Less than 30 seconds later, the game reached a turning point as Valtteri Filppula was sent to the box. The Oilers needed only 4 seconds of that powerplay to get on the board and gain some momentum, and gain momentum they did.

Less than a minute later Mike Comrie cut the lead to two, on a soft goal by Jimmy Howard's standards.

The third period also went the Oilers way. Barely half way through the Red Wings had completely blown their 4 goal lead on goals from Zack Stortini and Tom Gilbert. Luckily, the Wings were able to steady the ship and Brad Stuart tipped the puck by Deslauriers for the perhaps undeserved win.

Undeserved or not, a win is a win, and good teams often get 2 points from games they shouldn't.

For Detroit, Andreas Lilja, Drew Miller, Nik Kronwall, Johan Franzen and Brad Stuart scored. Whilst Comrie, Stortini and two from Tom Gilbert fileld the scoreboard for Edmonton.

WOW Factor
The tide seemed to turn and turn quickly as soon as Filppula took his penalty and the Oilers scored off the draw. The Wings were their own worst enemy as they became almost fatally complacent with the 4-goal cushion. It wasn't until the game was tied that Detroit really applied more offensive pressure to Edmonton.

Special Teams
The Red Wings powerplay was very strong but scored once from three chances thanks to some acrobatic stops from Deslauriers. The Oilers scored 4 seconds into their 2nd PP of the game but couldn't muster much on their other chances going 1/4 for the game.

In net
Jimmy Howard stopped 22 of 26 shots for Detroit.
Jeff Deslauriers stopped 39 of 44 for Edmonton.

Up Next...
Detroit continues its 3-game home stand on Thursday against Columbus followed by a Saturday afternoon showdown against the 5th-placed Predators (that I'll be attending WOO!!)