Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Jake Walman wins it for Detroit and celebrates with a griddy
Two incredible things happened Wednesday night in the game between the Pittsburgh Penguins.
First, the Detroit Red Wings overcame a 4-0 deficit to pull off a 5-4 win in overtime.
Second, defenseman Jake Walman, who scored the game-winning goal in OT, celebrated with what might be the first NHL griddy.
The Penguins rocketed out to a 4-0 lead in the first period, thanks to goals from Drew O’Connor, Jeff Carter, and Jason Zucker, who scored a pair of goals in the opening period. But the Red Wings slowly chipped away at the four-goal deficit. Dylan Larkin opened the scoring for the Red Wings, as Detroit took advantage of a power play to get on the board early in the second period:
Joe Veleno cut the Pittsburgh lead in half later in the second period, burying a shot from the slot. That sent the teams to the second intermission with the Penguins now holding a 4-2 lead.
The score remained 4-2 until just over five minutes were left in the game. That’s when Detroit took advantage of a failure by Pittsburgh to get out of their own end. Ben Chiarot managed to keep the puck in the offensive zone, before finding Elmer Soderblom in the slot. Soderblom tried to wheel around and get the puck on net, but it was his teammate Jonatan Berggren who capitalized on a loose puck in front of the net:
Moments later the Penguins were whistled for having too many men on the ice, giving the Red Wings another man advantage with just over three minutes remaining.
Just seconds into the power play, Detroit tied the game:
That sent the game to overtime, where the Red Wings completed the comeback. Detroit broke out of their own end with an odd-man rush. A save by Magnus Hellberg, who came into the game after Ville Husso allowed the four goals in the first period, set the stage for the breakout. Forward Andrew Copp bolted ahead with the puck, before finding defenseman Jake Walman right on the doorstep with a perfect pass:
And that’s when Walman gave us what might just be the first NHL griddy.
Walman talked about the celebration after the game, saying that “all the young kids probably liked that too:”
The beauty of sport is that every night, every game, offers the chance to see something you have never seen before.
Including an NHL griddy.
