There was something familiar about the way coach Mike Babcock's Detroit Red Wings' checking smothered the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
It was almost exactly like the way Babcock's Team Canada won gold at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The result was a 2-1 Red Wings' victory on Swedish Olympian Gustav Nyquist's rebound goal with 28 seconds left in overtime.
"[Babcock] always stressed that we play this way," said Johan Franzen, who returned from a concussion to assist on both Detroit goals. "This is how you win games.
'The execution was not there tonight for both teams. Both teams played solid defensively...But we put ourselves in position to get a point.'- Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien
"Especially coming down the stretch here and going into the playoffs, this is how you have to play hockey. You've got to track like never before, and always be above their guys and make it small for them so you can create turnovers. Then you give your team a lot of opportunities."
Franzen set up a power-play goal 14:01 into the first period by Todd Bertuzzi for Detroit (27-20-12).
Captain Brian Gionta scored for Montreal (32-21-7) with 29 seconds left in regulation time after goalie Peter Budaj was pulled for an extra attacker.
Babcock's defence-first style helped Canada go 6-0 at the Olympics, surrendering only three goals along the way. Gionta's goal was the first against a Babcock-coached team since Lauris Darzins got one at 15:41 of the first period of Canada's 2-1 quarter-final win over Latvia.
Canada shut out the United States 1-0 in the semifinals and then topped Sweden 3-0 in the final on Sunday.
"It's tough to compare," said Nyquist. "It's a different style of game on a smaller rink here.
"It was an adjustment for a few guys out there. But it was nice to get the win."
There were a handful of Olympians of both sides who had trickled back over the past week as their teams were eliminated.
It made for slow, scrambling hockey with few good scoring chances on either side. Detroit had a 30-20 shot advantage, and fans booed as Montreal tested Jimmy Howard only twice in the second frame.
"I'm sure guys noticed the time difference a bit," said Nyquist. "You have to battle through it.
"It was the middle of the night in Sochi, but we've been back for three days and we're starting to get it back. We'll get some sleep before we play in Ottawa [on Thursday night]."
The Canadiens salvaged a point when Gionta collected a puck at the side of the net in a scramble and backhanded the tying goal into a top corner.
"The execution was not there tonight for both teams," said Montreal coach Michel Therrien. "Both teams played solid defensively.
"There wasn't much space on the ice. But we put ourselves in position to get a point. It's disappointing that we didn't score in overtime or get to the shootout."
Franzen fed Bertuzzi at the edge of the crease for a power-play goal 14:01 into the game after Canadian Olympian P.K. Subban was called for roughing.
Bertuzzi returned to the lineup after missing eight games with an upper-body problem. Franzen had sat out six in a row and 21 of the last 22 with his concussion, but said he felt fine after the game.
In overtime, Franzen tipped a Danny DeKeyser shot and the rebound went to Nyquist for a shot into an open side.
Budaj had been slated to start in goal for Montreal even before Canadian Olympian Carey Price suffered a lower-body injury during the team's game-day skate. He is to start again when Montreal visits Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
The 21,273 at the Bell Centre gave a rousing ovation to 12 members of Canadian men's and women's hockey gold medallist teams from the Sochi Olympics in a pre-game ceremony.
The biggest cheers went to Marie-Philip Poulin, who had two goals in the women's final, and to Babcock and Canadiens players Price and Subban.
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