Red Wings Hold Off Flames for 3-2 Win

The Detroit Red Wings held off a late push by the Calgary Flames for a 3-2 win on Wednesday night.

Twice in the final minutes the Flames thought they had tied it up. The first non-goal was scored after Detroit netminder Petr Mrazek’s mask had been knocked off while the second was on an offsides play.

Mason Raymond opened the game’s scoring for Calgary just 2:27 into the first period. His shot from the left wing bounced off Mrazek’s mask and right back to him down low for a wraparound into the open side of the net.

The Red Wings evened things back up at 7:58 when Riley Sheahan carried the puck down the right wing and drove to the net, snapping a shot over Calgary netminder Karri Ramo’s glove.

It was the only goal Ramo would allow, as he left midway through the game after coming out of his crease to stop a breakaway chance and colliding with defenseman Raphael Diaz. Jonas Hiller replaced him in the Calgary net.

Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg gave his team the lead with 2:32 left in the middle frame. Gustav Nyquist’s centering pass from the right wing bounced off Justin Abdelkader’s stick to Zetterberg, who beat Hiller from right in front.

Abdelkader would make it 3-1 with a power play goal at 2:03 of the third period. The puck came to Abdelkader wide open to Hiller’s left, where he had enough time to put his initial shot off the far post, then collect his own rebound and put it into the net.

Mikael Backlund cut Detroit’s lead to 3-2 at 5:13. Backlund took a feed from Paul Byron on a shorthanded break and slid the puck under Mrazek’s attempted poke-check.

The Red Wings went one-for-two on the power play, scoring on their first and allowing Backlund’s goal on their second. The Flames were scoreless on four tries with the man-advantage.

Mrazek stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced. Ramo made 12 saves on 13 Detroit chances before giving way to Hiller, who stopped seven of nine.

With the Red Wings’ Western Canadian road trip complete, they’ll stop in Detroit before moving on to Washington on Saturday.

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Detroit was without forwards Johan Franzen (upper body) and Tomas Jurco (back). They were replaced in the lineup by Daniel Cleary and Joakim Andersson… Brian Lashoff was a healthy scratch.