Red Wings Top Canucks Thanks To Rare OT Penalty Shot, Goal-Scorer Celebrates With Griddy

The Detroit Red Wings earned themselves a huge win over the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Canucks.

To make matters a whole lot more interesting, the win came thanks to a penalty shot in overtime… and yes, there was celebratory Griddy.

The Red Wings rallied from being down 3-1 to force overtime and just 23 seconds into the extra frame, Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes cross-checked Detroit's Jake Walman while he was on a breakaway.

It's not very often you see a crosscheck result in a penalty shot, but that's what happened.

That's highly unusual, and it wasn't a great penalty to take, but there was certainly a cross-check that sent Walman down to the ice.

So, Walman headed to center ice and proceeded to bury his penalty shot past Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith… then threw down the hottest celebration of mid-to-late 2022.

The Griddy has become Walman's signature move, and while, as I said, it's a little dated, doing it after scoring an OT-winner on a penalty shot is probably as good a time to do it as any throw it down.

That was a nice win over a great team. but it was also a big one as far as the standings are concerned. The Red Wings are clinging to one of the wild card spots in the Eastern Conference. As it stands, they've been trading spots with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

However, they're also even with the Toronto Maple Leafs — currently third — on points. So, stealing two points against arguably the best team in the league is big. 

The Red Wings look like they could very well be a playoff team, and if they keep winning these big games, they could earn themselves a more favorable first-round matchup… kind of.

Getting to third in the Atlantic would still mean having to face either Boston or Florida in the opening round.