Five minutes into the first period, Swedish player Elmer Söderblom got going on his skates. Through a clever turn, teammate Vladimir Tarasenko managed to steal the puck from the opponents in Utah, and Söderblom could – after chasing forward over the ice – catch his pass and send a direct shot into the goal.
The goal, which meant equalizing to 1–1 for Detroit, was Söderblom's fourth for the season.
Detroit then took a firm grip on the match and won 5–1. Simon Edvinsson contributed with two goal-assisting passes.
Despite the win, Detroit coach Todd McLellan described the whole thing as a "bad match".
The conditions were pretty tough. The ice was slushy and snowy, the puck bounced all over the place. There were moments during the match when I thought it was to our disadvantage, and other times when it was to our advantage, he says and continues:
But we found a way to fight our way through a tough evening and created many scoring opportunities.
In the match between Columbus and New York Islanders, there was also a Swedish goal. Pierre Engvall scored the opening goal and Adam Boqvist made two assists for New York, which despite that lost 4–3 after penalties.
