Respect...

Perhaps Detroit wasn't expecting this kind of effort from a team it had a 21-point lead on in the league standings, but they paid their respects afterward...

"They got the puck going out of their zone in a hurry. I thought they played well; I was impressed. I really was. I thought it was a hard battle for us. There's not any teams that keep us off kilter all night long like they did tonight..."

-- Head Coach Mike Babcock


"They have a real good future, both of them. They're real mature for their age and they'll be big stars for a long time."

-- Henrik Zetterberg, speaking of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom


"He loves hockey and that's a fantastic thing. It's always great when superstars love the game because to me, that's contagious -- the enthusiasm -- and people like to watch people who love (playing) hockey. It reminds me of Pavel [Datsyuk] in that way. There's a stigma, a little bit that Russian guys don't [love the game]. Yet, both of them have a riot playing the game."

-- Babcock, on Alex Ovechkin and Pavel Datsyuk



...thanks to the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News for the highlights.