Jake Walman penalty shot clinches 4-3 Red Wings win over Canucks

Jake Walman's overtime penalty shot led Detroit to a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks, but the Red Wings felt his impact throughout the game

Jake Walman admits it, he was thinking about the celebration.

Given an overtime penalty shot, the left-handed defenseman had a chance to seal Detroit's two-goal comeback against Western Conference-leading Vancouver. But instead of focusing on his goal, Walman let his mind wander.

Known for hitting the Griddy dance after scoring overtime winners, Walman is working on a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club to raise funds with merchandise featuring his silhouette hitting his now-iconic celebration. He couldn't help but think about the impact that scoring — and most importantly, griddying — might have.

“I haven't done (the Griddy) at home, and I’m just like, it's cool,” Walman said. “In the next month, I’m rolling out an initiative with that logo and the Griddy. So it'll benefit the Boys and Girls Club in Detroit.”

Whether held by a distraction or fueled with extra motivation, Walman nonetheless took his shot. He skated in on the left side, took a few stick handles and fired the 4-3 game-winner past Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith. 

Walman’s forethought paid off. He hit the Griddy once again — to the delight of a Kids Night crowd.

His overtime heroics were just one part of a game that illustrated his impact on the Red Wings blue line. Coming out of a 10-day break and working through some rust, Walman’s play helped them start on the right foot by earning two hard points against the Canucks.

Walman, though, isn’t usually the one you’d expect to be in that position — especially to start overtime. Usually, Detroit leans on Walman's defense partner Moritz Seider in high pressure situations. But an uneven penalty trade with Canucks forward Dakota Joshua in a late third period scrum gave Seider a seat in the penalty box. Walman, meanwhile, took the ice to start that overtime.

And with his shifty skating and foot speed to confidently step up in the play, Walman made the most of his opportunity. He found open ice behind Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, skated in off a feed from forward Lucas Raymond and drew a hook from a desperate Hughes just 23 seconds into overtime.

“I think overtime, it’s kind of capitalizing on chances and breakdowns and kind of learning from our other overtimes,” Walman said. “I think it’s important to take those 50/50 chances, and (Raymond) won a battle and made a great pass up the ice and that kind of sealed it.”

A goal and a griddy later, Walman gave the Red Wings a comeback win over the Western conference leaders.

His fingerprints riddled the comeback. On the tying goal by Michael Rasmussen, Walman made himself an outlet for Rasmussen and Christian Fischer’s aggressive forecheck. Receiving the puck on the left wall, Walman layered a one-timer through traffic before Rasmussen tipped it in for the 3-3 goal with 12:09 left in the third period. Walman also had his struggles, like when he bumped into Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon to help the Canucks score their first goal of a second-period deluge.

In the end, Walman’s game was a microcosm of Detroit’s play throughout the game — not without rust, but driven by a strong finish.

All of this illustrates Walman’s importance to the Red Wings’ win, but also their success overall. Once seemingly a throw-in when they sold Nick Leddy at the deadline two years ago, Walman continues to rewrite his own narrative. He's blossomed into a top-pairing defenseman, and his 11 goals are the most of his career.

Such production helps round out some of the blue line burden. Detroit coach Derek Lalonde has leaned an extraordinary amount on Seider to lead the blue line, playing him just about anywhere and anytime he can. It’s natural to want to drive play through a physical, talented unicorn, but one guy can’t be the star of a blue line. In Walman, Lalonde finds a versatile counterpunch.

Now, the emphasis turns to repeating such a contribution. Detroit needs all the points it can get in the coming weeks as the Eastern Conference playoff race continues. The Red Wings face red-hot Edmonton and get a rematch with the Canucks during their upcoming four-game road trip. If Walman can continue to be an offensive catalyst like he was Saturday, he could help Detroit make the most of those games.

Just don’t expect Lalonde to upgrade Walman to the shootout going forward.

“He won't find himself in the top five,” Lalonde said, noting that there’s a deeper group above Walman for those situations. “But again, for him to have that poise — he knew exactly what he was doing he was going low glove the whole time, the poise, and he buried it. Huge finish, lotta fun.”