Filip Zadina broke into the smile the Detroit Red Wings have missed.
Playing for the first time in three months, the former first-round pick found the back of the net for the first time this season, helping give the Wings something to celebrate. Their week of facing western Canadian foes continued Thursday with the Calgary Flames at Little Caesars Arena, and Zadina’s goal provided breathing space. The goal stood as the winner in the 2-1 victory.
Zadina scored at 5:51. He and Oskar Sundqvist came up ice, with Zadina passing to Sundqvist as they approached the net. Sundqvist passed back to Zadina, who had an open net to finish. Robert Hägg, a little-used defenseman playing for the first time since Dec. 8, also drew an assist.
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Dylan Larkin converted on a power play for the Wings’ first goal. Ville Husso made his 33rd and 34th saves of the game late in the third period while the Wings were killing a second straight penalty to Ben Chiarot.
Zadina in, Kubalik out
The Wings needed to get Zadina into the lineup, and with Dominik Kubalik only posting six points the last 15 games, the swap was made. Zadina was a healthy scratch the first two games of the season and had no points and a minus-3 rating in nine games when he was sidelined by a lower-body injury in early November. He subbed onto the fourth line, with Pius Suter and Oskar Sundqvist. Zadina, 23, has not played up to the expectations that came with being the No. 6 pick in 2018, but general manager Steve Yzerman extended Zadina for three years last summer, indicating the team still saw potential for Zadina to establish himself.
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Four to finish
The Wings went about 10 minutes in the first period without a shot after Andrew Copp threw a backhand at Dan Vladar on a breakaway during a penalty kill. That was one of five shots on net the Wings generated in the first period, to 12 by the Flames. A golden opportunity to open the scoring came five minutes into the second period, when Nikita Zadorov was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Jonatan Berggren. Both power play units generated chances — David Perron fired back-to-back shots from the left circle, and Larkin had a couple attempts on one unit; Jake Walman (who missed a chunk of the first period after an open-ice collision with Zadorov) fired a shot at the net and Tyler Bertuzzi tried to get to the rebound — but six shots later, it was still 0-0.
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Fourth time the charm
After failing on their first, second and third power plays, the Wings finally squeezed some juice out of their fourth one. They had just fallen behind by a goal when Noah Hanifin’s shot went in off Blake Coleman at 18:07 of the second period. There were 54 seconds left in the period when Dillon Dubé was called for tripping Lucas Raymond. This time, Perron took a pass from Moritz Seider and found Larkin, who fired a shot into the top of Calgary’s net for his 16th goal of the season. It was the Wings’ first conversion on 12 man advantages dating back to their last game before the All-Star break.
Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@helenestjames.
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Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
