Detroit Red Wings are 'overtime assassins' thanks to depth kicking in past regulation

The Detroit Red Wings take a three-game winning streak into the weekend, earned on the strength of their excellence in overtime.

Patrick Kane was the latest to ensure victory, keeping the Wings rolling as they face the St. Louis Blues in a Saturday matinee. The game before that, it was Ben Chiarot. By any name, an overtime goal spells a pair of points for the Wings and solidifies their place in the playoff race.

"We really had a team effort including the penalty kill," Kane said after Thursday's 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. "We had a great kill against one of the top power plays in the league. It’s always huge to win the special-teams game — the power play scored for us, we killed off all the penalties and got great goaltending.

"It felt like a playoff game — low-scoring, the crowd was into it. The Avalanche-Red Wings is a big rivalry, so people are excited about it. Great win."

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Kane's latest marker gave the Wings 12 players with at least 10 goals. Kane has done it in just 25 games.

"It's been great having him," Dylan Larkin said. "Our building has gotten a boost. We call it the 'Kaner effect' — you notice that the top of the upper bowl is full every night. It's nice to have that. You saw him pumping up the crowd there on his own, out of the scrum.

"It's a lot of fun right now. That was a huge win. Great atmosphere. Our fans were unbelievable and it was a huge win for our hockey team."

The Wings (30-20-6) moved past Tampa Bay Lightning into the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and have two games in hand on the Bolts. Thursday's victory improved the Wings to 9-6 in overtime and 4-1 in the last five such games.

It was 1-0 Colorado after two periods.

"I felt like we deserved better than being down 1-0, but we hung in there," Lalonde said. "You don't win that often trailing going into the third, so I think it speaks a lot of our group."

The Wings are 8-14-2 trailing after two periods. They had 51 seconds of power play to start overtime, but it took until there was 1:18 left when Kane scored off a setup by Larkin and Chiarot.

"What I like is we went through a four-on-three, and we went through two other sets of forwards before we got back to Dylan and Patty," Lalonde said. "It speaks to the depth of our group. Just a real positive."

That Kane would score isn't surprising — he's one of the most talented players in the game. That Chiarot has been a key part of the last two overtime victories, on the other hand, delights teammates in a different way.

"He’s been a little bit of an overtime assassin, he’s calling himself that in the room," Larkin said, smiling. "He’s a little bit of a more steady behind-the-scenes defenseman — he blocks shots, he plays hard, he defends his teammates, so when you see a guy like that making big plays, it gives you a huge boost."

Or as Lalonde put it, Chiarot is, "OT Benny, the boys were calling him.

"Benny has had a really good season. His game has really elevated. He's been good all year. So a little a confidence in overtime doesn't surprise me."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her @helenestjames.

Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings' depth finding ways to win past regulation