Henrik Lundqvist had seen so much of Andreas Athanasiou by the time the speedster snaked his way toward goal in the shootout that, frankly, the sight was getting old.
And this time Athanasiou approached the net slowly, like a fox moving in for the kill, and then slipped the puck through Lundqvist's legs for what would be the shootout winner in the Red Wings' 3-2 victory over the Rangers Thursday night.
"He kind of froze me a little bit," a weary Lundqvist told reporters afterward. "He probably had four or five breakaways and got to work on his move, I guess, throughout the game. But he’s a good player. Good speed, but he can also find the openings."
Four or five might be a stretch. But when Athanasiou's cooking, that's typically the effect. He leaves an impression even bigger than his actual imprint, and the latter was already the largest on the ice Thursday night.
Athanasiou has had games like this before, and a good number of them this season. Let's not turn a fairly-familiar occasion into some coming-out party. But it was new for the fact he was serving as Detroit's first-line center. With Dylan Larkin out due to a back injury, Athanasiou filled that role with aplomb.
And -- because this is Athanasiou we're talking about -- a little panache.
Before his nifty shootout winner, Double-A threw LCA into a tizzy when he charged in on goal and tried a low-angle (and low-percentage) between-the-legs move that left Lundqvist sprawled out in the crease, Athanasiou splayed out behind the net and the latter laughing at himself after the game.
"I’m not really sure what I was thinking," Athanasiou said. "I kind of wanted to cut in and I didn’t think I could, wanted to get a shot off and thought if I got it between my legs I could protect the puck, and ended up almost tripping myself."
He laughed again, surely remembering the razzing he took on the bench, then offered a little insight as to his thinking.
"I've had a lot of chances on breakaways where I've done patented moves that I'm comfortable with and they always make saves. So changing it up every now and then doesn't hurt," he said. "Obviously you want to score, and that's all I was trying to do."
Indeed, the best players are constantly expanding their games. Athanasiou is in the midst of such a transition right now, moving to center after spending much of the season -- and his NHL career -- on the wing. Detroit wants to know if he can be a building block down the middle, where building blocks come at a premium these days, and form a dynamic one-two punch with Larkin.
"You look at the teams that win in this league, they’ve got great two-way centers," said Blashill. "So if he can be dynamic and still be real good from the defensive side, he puts us in a position where he looks like a guy that can really help us win."
Thursday marked Athanasiou's fourth game since the switch, and it was his best one yet. It's probably not a coincidence it came with Larkin on the shelf. That meant significantly more ice time for Athanasiou, who played a career-high 24:13.
He assisted on Detroit's first goal of the game, then added one of his own, his 23rd of the season, when he ripped a shot over Lundqvist's glove on a two-on-one rush. He's got a shot to score 30. There aren't many centers doing that across the NHL. Between Athanasiou and Larkin, the Red Wings might have themselves two.
It's a little early to start entertaining that vision, of course, but Thursday night it was hard not to. No. 72 looked a lot like No. 71.
"I used him similar to the way I’ve used Larks," Blashill said. "I thought Doubles was really going. When he’s really going and feeling it, he’s super electric, and I thought he was electric every time he touched the puck. It was a really good night for him, and the minutes followed."
It wasn't just the offense on Thursday night. It can't be if Athanasiou wants to stick at center -- and you can bet he does. It was his work at the faceoff dot, where he went a gaudy 13-3, and his reliability in his own zone. His minutes followed his defensive play before anything else.
To keep them coming, Athansiou will have to keep stopping on pucks in the defensive end -- rather than gliding through it and hoping the play turns the other way.
"He likes to keep his momentum so then he can take off, but he doesn’t need to. He’s too fast," Blashill said. "He doesn’t need to do that, so it’s just the habit of stopping and making sure that when he comes back into his zone he either outnumbers right away or he stops and sorts.
"If you drift as a player, nobody else knows what you’re doing. If you start and stop, then you can define who’s got who and what your responsibilities are. It’s just a habit that you can get away with a little bit more at wing than you can at center."
At the other end of the ice, the challenge for Athanasiou will be sustaining his production. So many of his goals this season have come on swooping plays off the wing, where he can slip behind defenders with his speed. Maybe this is falling into the same trap as Lundqvist, but it sure seems like Athanaisou, on the wing, has had at least one (semi) breakaway every game this year.
Those opportunities won't be as frequent at center, though they certainly didn't dry up against the Rangers. Athanasiou will have to use his speed to a different effect, namely carrying the puck up ice and working a give-and-go game like Larkin.
And the caveat to all this is consistency. It's one thing to shine in the spotlight for a game or two, only to fall back into the wings. We've seen that act from Athanasiou a few times before. The 24-year-old needs an encore his next time out, and then a few more after that.
Through four performances, at least, he's moving in the right direction.
Whether there are more to come remains to be seen. Larkin may well be back for Detroit's next game. Either way, Athanasiou is showing signs he can stick in the middle, which is quite alright with the kid they call 'Doubles' -- and doubly encouraging for the team that wants once more to call itself a contender.
"Any time you have more responsibility it’s something that I think a lot of players want," Athanasiou said. "Obviously with that responsibility you gotta be ready to take on those minutes and play those big situations, and that's something that I want to do."