Up 2-0 going into the 3rd, the Avs looked finished and it got worse when Svatos took a double minor for high sticking with about 16 minutes left in the period. Once again, the PK got it done with much help from Anderson including a beautiful save with the right pad to keep the puck out of the net and the game still in reach. That kill was definitely the momentum changer in the game.
A rare turnover by the Wings in the neutral zone by O'Reilly who fed the puck up to McLeod for the Avs 1st goal with 11 minutes to play. Shortly after that, Matt Duchene finally got his first as he skated the puck along the right wing board from his own zone and fired a beauty of a wrister past a stunned Osgood. Detroit tried to end the game as Val Filppula gave the Wings a 3-2 lead with 6 and a half to play after Anderson had made the 1st save. It was obvious that the Avs were not done and refused to lose. The line of Galiardi-O'Reilly-McLeod clicked again when Galiardi got the puck up to O'Reilly who had a 2 on 1 with McLeod. O'Reilly faked the shot, defenseman went down and then he fed the puck over to McLeod who had an empty net to shoot into for his 2nd of the game and 2nd assist for O'Reilly. In OT, the Avs dominated and looked like a totally different team over the last 15 minutes of the game and then eventually ended the game in the shootout with goals by Svatos and Hejduk while Anderson stopped 2 of the 3 shots faced to complete the comeback.
The resiliency showed by this team last night was something special. It wasnt the old guys getting the job done, it was the kids O'Reilly, Galiardi, Duchene, and McLeod. It is great to see quality hockey coming from the Avs again. This team just may be for real.
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