The Detroit Red Wings battled back to get a point, but fell to the Chicago Blackhawks in a shootout, 3-2. The shootout loss means the Red Wings will meet the Nashville Predators in the first round of the playoffs as the No. 5 seed, which means they will play Games 1 and 2, and 5 and 7 (if necessary), away from The Joe. While the single point guaranteed the Wings the No. 5 spot, it also meant the Blackhawks would remain the No. 6 seed to play the winner of the Pacific Division.
The Red Wings trailed 2-0 going into the third period, but Johan Franzen's 29th goal of the season at 8:11 got the Wings and the crowd back into it. Despite plenty pressure, the next 11 minutes would go scoreless, until Pavel Datsyuk, with Jimmy Howard on the bench, collected the garbage on the doorstep of Corey Crawford and put in the game-tying goal with just 46 seconds to go.
Chicago, needing a regulation win to pass the Wings in the standings, pulled their goalie in a tie-game to get the man-advantage in the final seconds, but the Wings were able to clear the puck for the point.
Overtime was wild, both teams receiving quality chances to pick up the extra point, but time would unfortunately run out and force a shootout. In the shootout, Pavel Datsyuk attempted a nifty between the legs move and got a shot off, but it was wide. Patrick Kane scored the lone goal of the skills challenge on a similar move, although it didn't look as pretty. His shot just found its way through the five-hole of Howard for the game-winner.
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