History repeats itself as Red Wings lose to Coyotes

October 23, 2:12 PMDetroit Red Wings ExaminerMike Mouat

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Phoenix Coyotes' Ilya Bryzgalov (30), of Russia, gets beat for a goal by Detroit Red Wings' Brett Lebda (22) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo).

For the second consecutive game the Detroit Red Wings let a win slip through their fingers late in the third period.

Phoenix Coyotes' right winger Petr Prucha poked the puck into the net during a goal mouth scramble with just 2:40 left in the third period to tie the game and send it into overtime. The goal was reviewed before being declared a valid goal as the Red Wings protested that Chris Osgood and the puck were pushed into the net illegally.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was heated after the goal was allowed and had some choice words for the referees. Perhaps his visible frustration toward the officials had little to do with them or the call and more to do with the fact that this was the second consecutive game his team stumbled in the third period and eventually lost the game. The Red Wings lost to Colorado on Saturday 4-3 in a shootout after leading 2-0 after two periods.

Babcock is quoted by Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press after the game: “I thought they were pushing the goalie into the net, and I didn’t think that was allowed. That doesn’t matter. We were in the situation set up to win a game and with very little time left, I thought we did a lot of really good things and we ended up shooting ourselves in the foot and costing ourselves a point.”

There is a quite a bit of similarity in St. James' quote from Babcock as the one I got from him following Saturday's loss: "I just felt it was one of those games that you have everything going your way, you should bury them. "We didn't bury them, we let them stay in the game, and instead of putting a knife in them, and it came back to haunt us. It's a point that we let get away that we should never let it at home."

But the truth of the matter is Phoenix deserved to win this game. They out-shot (33-27), and out-hit (22-17) Detroit, they won more faceoffs (34-27), had more takeways than Detroit (7-3) and outperformed Detroit on special teams.

Adrian Aucoin ended the game in sudden-death overtime with a harmless looking wristshot from the top of the left faceoff circle that eluded Osgood on the far side and went in between his blocker and his body. 

St. James got the following quote from Osgood on the game winning goal: “I went to steer it into the corner and it hit my stick and it kind of ramped when it came in. It took a bounce and hit my stick and hit my hand, my blocker. I feel really good, I just can’t get a break right now.”

The goal ruined what was a pretty good night for Osgood, as he held Detroit in the game in the first period. Matthew Lombardi scored the opening goal of the game when he batted a rebound in out of the air. That play too was reviewed before counting. 

Chris McCosky of the Detroit News caught up with Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom who characterized the game tying goal and the team's inability to close out games in this fashion: "It's a concern, even with the way the goal happened. We were unable to play with a lead, keep the lead and get the two points. It's something we have to do better. We played well tonight. I thought we came out with the right attitude, but it wasn't good enough."

Tomas Holmstrom scored late in the first period to draw the Red Wings even through 20 minutes. Brett Lebda scored the only goal of the second period  to give Detroit a 2-1 advantage as he joined the rush late and took a perfect pass from Pavel Dastyuk before firing a wrist shot into the empty net behind Ilya Bryzgalov. Datsyuk also assisted Holmstrom's goal for two points in his first game back after missing the last two with an undisclosed upper body injury.

The Red Wings next game is on Saturday in Colorado against the Avalanche.