12/10/14

Maple Leafs Defeat Red Wings in Shootout

Wednesday Night Rivalry games are always fun to watch. Every Wednesday night, NBC Sports Network broadcasts an 8 pm game between rivalry teams. Tonight's rivalry was the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jimmy Howard was between the pipes for the Red Wings and James Reimer got the start in goal for the visiting Maple Leafs. After one period of play, there was no score. The Red Wings had a 12-7 shot advantage for the period. The scoreless stalemate remained until 17:52 of the second period when Red Wings' forward Gustav Nyquist tucked a backhander past Reimer for a 1-0 Detroit lead. At the end of two periods of play, the Red Wings held a 1-0 lead and a 10-3 shot advantage for the period. At 5:09 of the third period, Maple Leafs' forward James van Riemsdyk found forward Phil Kessel open in front of the net. Kessel slid the puck past Howard to tie the game at 1-1. The score remained the same and the game went into overtime. At 4:03 of the five-minute overtime period, Red Wings' defenseman Niklas Kronwall was assessed a two-minute goalkeeper interference penalty. The Maple Leafs were unable to capitalize and the game went into a shootout. The visiting Maple Leafs prevailed in the shootout 2-1.