Before their 2-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night, the Detroit Red Wings hadn't played since last Saturday's shutout win against the Colorado Avalanche. (The Wings have shut out their opponents in eight of the nine periods they've played this season, which is sick.)
Detroit didn't play with much fire in the first period last night, sleepwalking through a power play. So Justin Abdelkader decided to light a fire under their collective ass by beating up Maxim Lapierre at the end of that power play:
If you check out the alternate feed on The Detroit Sports Site, you can see Abdelkader check Lapierre hard behind the play, which led to this exchange of pleasantries.
Not sure what happened here with the fight — whether Lapierre couldn't/wasn't allowed to get to his skates to square off, or if he turned terrapin. Abdelkader was given five minutes for fighting and Maxim Lapierre was given five minutes for getting punched, apparently.
Good night for Afrogator, via Fox Sports Detroit:
Justin Abdelkader got the crowd going in the first when he fought Vancouver's Maxim Lapierre. The former MSU Spartan landed several punches, easily dropping Lapierre to the ice.
However, it was Abdelkader's second-period goal off a perfect pass from Todd Bertuzzi that gave Detroit a 1-0 lead. Abdelkader wanted to set the tone since the Wings were coming off such a long layoff.
"It's huge to come out and provide energy, to be physical and hang on to pucks," said Abdelkader.
"Oh, and to pummel Maxim Lapierre mercilessly so the rest of the NHL can live vicariously through me for a few moments. That too …"
Solid start for Detroit. They beat two teams they should beat and then used last night's game as a barometer. Keeping Vancouver off the board isn't easy.