Justin Abdelkader 4-17-16

The Red Wings Justin Abdelkader talks with referee Eric Furlatt as he and Tampa Bay's Brian Boyle grab each other at the end of the game.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT - In the heat of moment, Brian Boyle flapped his arms like a chicken and mocked Justin Abdelkader.

As far as the Detroit Red Wings are concerned, Abdelkader is about the last player who would resemble that gesture.

"It's playoff hockey and it just brings out that element of physicality and Abby is one of our leaders in that aspect," Riley Sheahan said. "He's been doing a great job. When you see him do that, you kind of want to add to it and I think we've been doing a good job of that."

Said Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg: "Abby, that's the kind of player he is. He always plays hard. He's heavy, he creates a lot of room for his teammates. He's not afraid and he's been playing well this season and this series."

Boyle made the gesture as he was leaving the ice Sunday following the Red Wings' 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 at Joe Louis Arena. He was frustrated that Abdelkader didn't accept his invitation to fight. Abdelkader was told by coach Jeff Blashill before the game not to fight. He also said his hand wasn't fully healed after he pummeled Mike Blunden in Game 2. And, with his hand taped, Abdelkader faced potential disciplinary action from the league if he cut a player during a fight.

"Kind of a spur of the moment thing," Boyle said Monday. "There's a lot of things that happen in a game."

Said Detroit's Luke Glendening: "I think it's being blown out of proportion a little bit. I really don't think it's that big of a deal. We're here to play hockey. It is what it is. You can do whatever you want. It's a hockey game, it's not a dance off."

The series has been chippy. The teams have combined for 215 penalty minutes - the other 14 playoff clubs had 348 penalty minutes combined prior to Monday's games.

"I'm worried about whistle to whistle and once the buzzer sounds the rest of it doesn't matter," Blashill said. "Our approach is trying to win the hockey game. That's our total focus."

Blashill spoke of Abdelkader's importance to the team.

"Abdelkader has really grown into a great all-around player," Blashill said. "Lots of people are quoting surface statistics, in terms of analytics, they talk about shots.

"I'm not sure how you measure net presence, you don't score in the league without net presence, he provides that. How do you measure getting to the inside? He's one of our few players that does a great job getting to the inside. How do you measure physicality? He does a great job of that.

"So he brings tons to the table. He's a great penalty killer, he's a good net-front presence on the power play."

Boyle, who had a beer dumped on him as he left the ice, said: "We just have to respect our opponent. I don't really want to talk about any individual guy.

"We've got enough to worry about. We've got to play way better. We should be talking about that. It shouldn't be 15 questions about the last two seconds of the game in which we got pretty much manhandled."

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