from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
The holiday break is going to feel just a little sour.
The slumping Red Wings controlled a large portion of the game Sunday in Toronto, but the Maple Leafs found a way to secure a 5-4 overtime victory.
John Tavares tied it at 4 with 7.6 seconds left in the third period, tipping a shot past goaltender Jonathan Bernier to force overtime. Then in the extra session, Kasperi Kapanen scored his second goal — he opened the game’s scoring at 27 seconds then closed it in overtime — with a spinning backhander in the slot past Bernier at 1 minute, 53 seconds to cap a frustrating night for the Wings.
“We played a great road game against a real good team,” forward Frans Nielsen said. “We had them on their heels. It was just a tough loss.”...
Nikas Kronwall blamed himself for the loss, failing to clear the puck and giving Toronto another chance to set up.
“Terrible play, you just give them another chance and there’s no need for that,” Kronwall said. “Terrible play by me and it cost us two points.”...
“We played good enough to win the hockey game, probably deserved to win the hockey game in a lot of ways,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “Unfortunately we didn’t. We didn’t quite finish the job in the last eight seconds.
“It doesn’t mean it was mistake-free. They’re a team that can make their own offense at times. We got scored on the first shift, but our guys dug in and played excellent after that.”
Below, post-game talk...
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