DETROIT -- Justin Abdelkader stood at the rim of the crease, reaching out to nudge the puck across the goal line. His stick was collapsing in his hands, but by the time the puck barely reached the back of the net the capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena exploded in joyful approval.
The Red Wings came from behind and won in overtime, 2-1, Sunday afternoon over St. Louis. And finally they were able to put a little breathing room, however temporary, between themselves and the hard-charging Boston Bruins.
Breathe in. Exhale. Repeat. A little air in the standings feels good, doesn't it?
With the two points, third-place Detroit (39-21-11, 89 points) built a six-point lead in the Atlantic Division over Boston, which played at Florida later Saturday.
Abdelkader's game-winner was his 20th of the season -- doubling his previous career-high in goals -- came 24 seconds into overtime. Coincidentally, he assisted on the tying goal exactly 24 seconds into the third period when he banked the puck off a defender's head when he was trying to throw it into the corner. The puck landed in the slot. Erik Cole pounced on it and chipped it over goalie Jake Allen to tie it 1-1.
"Just like we drew it up in the locker room," Abdelkader said, "and Cole-sie gets out his nine iron and chips it in. That's what happens in games like this.
"We found a way to get it in. With St. Louis, it's always that type of game. There's not much room out there. It's always tightly checked and it usually comes down to a one-goal game... It was a battle out there. Hopefully, we can get this ship going in the right direction now."
St. Louis (45-21-7, 97 points) lost for the second time in as many days, but used the point earned by taking the game in to overtime to take the lead in the Central Division -- a point ahead of Nashville. Each team has nine games remaining.
Sunday's victory halted a two-game losing skid and came at the end of a streak in which the Wings lost six of eight games and saw what was once an 11-point lead over Boston shrink to four points heading into Saturday's games.
Take a breath. Let it out. Repeat again. A little breathing room with 11 games to go in the season.
"Obviously, it was a big goal," coach Mike Babcock said of Abdelkader's game-winner. "Look, you get sick and tired of losing, especially when you're not used to it. These guys are smart. They know where they are in the standings. They want to make the playoffs.
"It's what we expected from the get-go -- to be battling for the playoffs. And that's where we're at."
So the Wings open a four-game home-stand the right way, and they hope to continue it Tuesday when Arizona visits.
Jimmy Howard, who is finally feeling some consistency in his performance a dozen games back from missing more than a month with a groin injury, will be back in goal. He made 22 saves to push his record to 21-12-9.
"Howie's had two good games in a row, which is important for us," said Babcock, who felt Howard deserved a better fate in the 3-1 loss at Tampa Bay on Friday night. "We need Howie to be good every night if we're going to have any success. So tonight was a good game for our team. We had to play hard."
Players said the game had a little postseason flavor to it.
"It was one of those games, like a playoff game," said Cole, who earned his 21st goal of the season and third with the Wings since arriving in trade from Dallas earlier this month. "Over the last little bit, we've had stretches where we've gotten away from what we do."
Nobody was pushing the panic button, but Cole admitted he and his teammates "had gotten a little antsy" over the past few weeks.
"But tonight we did a good job just continuing to stay the course and play the right way," Cole continued.
Abdelkader concurred, and the former Spartan was beaming even more so after learning that Michigan State had upended Villanova to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
"We played a pretty good game today, but it's such a fine line between winning and losing in this league," he said. "It's a bounce here or there."
(And sometimes off an opponent's face.)
"When we were winning all those games earlier, we found ways to win," he said. "Of late here, we've kind of stepped off it a bit and found ways to lose. So it's good to grind out a win here against a really good team. Hopefully, we can move forward on this home-stand."
A broken stick, perhaps, but the dream of extending the playoff streak remains intact.
Abdelkader said he didn't realize his stick was crumbling until he had a piece in each hand.
"I thought it kind of exploded at the same time I was trying to put the puck in the net," he said. "It's so hard to tell. Maybe you see it on replay, but in the moment you don't know whether it's fully broken or not."
Game-winner in OT. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.
If the Wings indeed make the playoffs for the 24th straight year -- and they took a giant leap in that direction on Sunday, there will be many more days ahead like this.
Enjoy it. This is when it gets really fun.
