from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
There was 2:45 to play in regulation, the game was tied, and the Detroit Red Wings needed at least a point to keep their playoff chase alive. A penalty to Patrick Kane meant dealing with the Toronto Maple Leafs' power play, and Auston Matthews chasing his 70th goal.
Larkin didn't want to miss a second of trying to deny Matthews, of denying the Leafs, of stoking his own team's hopes.
"I think I was on the ice for most of the penalty kill there at the end," he said, "so I was breathing through my eyes and just trying to gut it out."
"We know what’s at stake," Larkin said. "We kept saying, we need the two points. To get to this point, I’m not happy we’re in this position, fighting for our lives, but in Pittsburgh and at home against Washington, we’ve been fighting for our lives here. The sacrifice, the attitude of the guys has been unbelievable. We got rewarded for all the hard work we’ve done the last stretch here where we haven’t been getting rewarded."
Remember the first tie-breaker is regulation wins (RW)
from Tim Robinson of Detroit Hockey Now,
Axel Sandin Pellikka was recently awarded the Borje Salming Trophy as the best Swedish-born defenseman in the Swedish Hockey League. With Simon Edvinsson now playing as a Detroit regular, Sandin Pellikka is unofficially the Red Wings top prospect. Meanwhile, Sandin Pellikka has played a key role in helping his Skelleftea team take a 3-1 lead in their SHL semifinal series against Frolunda. If Skelleftea wins Game 5 today, Sandin Pellikka will be the SHL Final playing against Rogle.
Its clear this player, called ASP by some fans, has the potential for a bright future in this sport. That is impressive considering when Sandin Pellikka was younger, hockey was not on his radar.
He was a cross-country skier, like his dad, until one Christmas when his grandfather gifted him hockey equipment.
It quickly became hockey that mattered, Sandin Pellikka said in a recent conversation highlighted on Reddit.
His grandfather soon became a fixture at young Axels games.
Weve been running on a system since I was a kid, Sandin Pellikka said. When he accompanied me to games and I looked up at the stands, he would either give one thumbs up, which meant good, or two thumbs up, which meant extremely good. If I looked at Grandpa after a change and it was two thumbs up, I was extra happy.
continued ($)
The Wings won the first period last night on energy and emotion. The Leafs won the second period on skill (and they've got plenty of it). I would have bet almost anything that skill would have won out in the third. But the Wings survived to get to overtime where they actually won on the skill of Kane and Larkin. One of the wildest games I've watched in a long time.
The third was interesting, I don't even know how to describe it really.
The second was horrible. Someone seemed to have polished Reimer's pads during first intermission and he was all over the place in the second but got it figured out for the third. Strange strange game.
Was I the only one who wanted to send Kane packing after that penalty with 3 minutes to go in the game? His second stupid lazy penalty yesterday.
Something hasn't been right with Kane for a few games now. His energy level has seemed low and it's been reflected in his passing and his shooting. And opposing players have been taking pucks away from him on a regular basis.
Maybe he's just hit a bit of a physical wall after going through such an arduous rehab last summer and fall. But if they make the playoffs, they're going to need him to play both harder and smarter.
My wife thinks Kane is on the take. Lol..she has been saying that for a month or more
It was extremely uncharacteristic but he at least made up for it in ot.
Yeah he did
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