1st period:
Minnesota 1 Detroit 0; 19:48 1st period- Zanon (1) from Latendresse (4)
Pavel takes the puck away and tries to spin away from an oncoming defender. He coughs the puck up in the process. So where are we now? A Wild player has the puck alone behind the net, and upon seeing this Dany Heatley turns and moves towards the slot...
where he promptly has his stick tied up by Justin Abdelkader. Ah, shades of Zetterberg tying up Crosby in the '08 Cup Finals. The puck goes past Heatley and is picked up by a Wild defenseman at the blue line.
Zanon (the aforementioned defenseman) puts a slap shot on net and can only hope for basically exactly what happens. Three Wings defenders are crowded in front of the net, leaving Jimmy Howard with almost no chance to see the puck. He doesn't, and the Wild get on the board first.
2nd period:
Minnesota 2 Detroit 0; 00:16 2nd period- Clutterbuck (1) from Gillies (1) & Brodziak (1)
The breakdown of this goal is best served by focusing on the defensive zones above. Lidstrom has control of zone 1 at first (eventually White will switch with him) and Zettberg should be taking care of zone 2 throughout the play.
As we move further into the play coverage switches. Datsyuk once again gets the puck taken from him behind his own net, this time via a double team of Wild defenders. Lidstrom slid towards the board to be ready for a pass from Datsyuk that never came. White has moved in front of the net to take control of parts of zones 1 and 2, while Lidstrom and Datsyuk are now taken out of the play entirely. The only player close to their starting position is Zetterberg. He's still in the left faceoff circle, which is the area Cal Clutterbuck cuts towards after the Wild gain possession. Z sees him and, though there is a gap, should pick him up.
Zetterberg doesn't move towards Clutterbuck in time, leaving the forward open in the slot directly in front of the net. The pass from Gillies connects and Clutterbuck roofs it for a goal.
Minnesota 2 Detroit 1; 19:12 2nd period- White (2) from Franzen (2) & Filppula (1)
We'll pick this one up with White carrying down the left side boards. He has a trailing man who's sort of open, though the passing lane could potentially be played by the only Wild player not cirlced above. White decides to throw the puck into traffic, likely hoping that it goes off a stick or skate and changes directions in front of the net.
The pass works out well enough, as a Wing is able to gain control after the puck bounces off of his skate. He passes back to White, who has now moved into the slot area above the bunching of players directly in front of the net.
Filppula gets tangled with a defender just long enough to delay him in his pursuit out towards White. This allows White to carry the puck through the slot area and towards the right faceoff circle.
Besides being the most epic move ever attempted by a defender, this is also the fallout from Filppula bumping the defender as he tried to get net-front position.
With all of the Wild defenders in the high slot or close to the left faceoff circle, White has a clear shot. It 's a partially (but not very) screened Josh Harding versus an Ian White snapshot, and White wins.
3rd period:
Minnesota 2 Detroit 2; 3:46 3rd period- Hudler (2) from Kindl (2) & Filppula (2)
Filppula carries the puck up the right side boards, drawing his defender with him. Kindl slides towards the left side, and the other Wild defenders start to converge (see green arrows above).
The Wild defenders all key on the puck carrier, leaving plenty of room for Kindl to receive a pass and direct a slap shot towards the net-front area.
Jiri Hudler does his best Holmstrom impression and tips one in for the equalizer.
OT:
Minnesota 2 Detroit 3; 4:11 OT- Franzen (2) from Holmstrom (1) & White (1)
This is a good place to have the puck. Alone in front of the net in overtime? Yeah, I'll take that. Holmstrom shows some adept puck handling here. He starts forehand and switches to the backhand before...
somehow sensing Johan Franzen behind him and dropping the puck back between his legs. As you can see, there's a good portion of the Wild net available for the taking.
Franzen's defender has terrible positioning and can't do anything but bump him and hope to alter the shot that way.
Unfortunately it works, and the Mule gets momentarily bumped off the puck. The puck has momentum and glides towards Franzen's right skate, where it hits and is redirected into the net before Franzen crashes into it.
There's the puck, clearly in the net as Franzen gets acquainted with the crossbar and prior to net burial.
This is post net burial. This is also awesome.
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