Nielsen Injured, Coreau Takes Beating, and Other Thoughts From Last Night’s Wild Game In Boston
By Nick Seguin
6 years agoThere were nineteen seconds left in the first period. Niklas Kronwall, from his own corner, passed the puck up to the hashmarks along the boards, as defensemen so often do. Frans Nielsen was there to guide the puck forward and to the blueline. After the puck had left his stick, David Backes came bowling into him, shoulder coming up and into contact with Nielsen’s chin.
At the very least, it’s an interference call (which Backes sat for after the hit), but Backes will get a call from the department of player safety on this.
This hit should be grounds for suspension. “It was an unnecessary hit,” Henrik Zetterberg said in his media scrum after the game. Nielsen did not return to the game and Jeff Blashill did not have an update on him after the game. Nobody wants to use the ‘C’ word, but with the way Nielsen was laying on the ice and where the primary point of contact was, it’s not looking good for him.
Losing Nielsen is a serious blow to the Red Wings. For one, he’s at the heart of their shutdown strategy, often being paired up against the best players in the league. Second, he’s a big special teams player, headlining their penalty kill and filling in when needed on the powerplay. He’s put up 14 goals and 28 points in 66 games played this year.
We’ll know more about Nielsen’s status over the next couple of days. Depending on how much time he’ll need to miss, if any, we could see Dominic Turgeon back in Detroit to fill that hole at center.
COREAU PULLED IN SECOND PERIOD
The game did not get off to a good start for Jared Coreau. The young goaltender looked shaky in his first NHL start of the season after allowing two goals in the first 52 seconds of play. His confidence was shot and it was only a matter of time. After Brad Marchand scored his first of the game on the powerplay early in the second period, Coreau was pulled and Jimmy Howard took over. He allowed four goals on 16 shots.
In the media scrum post-game, Coreau wore the face of defeat. Refusing to blame his performance on a lack of NHL play this season, he just repeatedly said how he needed to be better. On the same token, his teammate, Anthony Mantha, admitted that the team did him no favours. It was a lackluster first period where defense seemed to be an afterthought. Coreau may be at fault for his bad start, but everything that followed is a shared responsibility.
This was Coreau’s first start in almost a full year. The last time he started an NHL game was on the road on March 8th, 2017 against the Boston Bruins. Funnily enough, Coreau allowed three goals on eight shots and was pulled in the first period.
I guess the Bruins just have his number.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
The Wings battled back hard in this one. Trailing for most of the game, they managed to tie it midway through the third to send it to overtime. Perhaps encouragingly, it was the young stars who paved the path to the overtime period. Anthony Mantha had two goals and two assists, Tyler Bertuzzi put up two helpers, Martin Frk scored the tying goal, Andreas Athanasisou recorded an assist, and Dylan Larkin had a team-leading eight shots on goal. Even more impressively, this was all done at 5-on-5.
It’s games like this that you watch and think if only they had competent defense, this team could compete with the best of them.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- Dylan Larkin is one point away from his 50th on the season. It’s a new career high for him. Performing at a 0.74 point-per-game pace, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he cracks 60 points. In fact, it’s likely.
- Anthony Mantha scored his 22nd and 23rd of the season last night. He’s currently on pace for 29 goals this year. The Wings haven’t had a 30 goal scorer since 2009. It would sure be nice to see him turn on the jets right now and make it happen.
- This loss wasn’t on Coreau. He shouldn’t take the brunt of the blame. In his first game in a whole year, they threw him in against the best offense in the league. When the team in front of you doesn’t want to defend, it’s tough to hold them off on your own.
- Brad Marchand had a five point night which included a hat trick. His third goal was the overtime winner. A lot went wrong on the play. Dylan Larkin was playing really lazy. Jimmy Howard bit too early. They made it a little too easy for him to score.
- Tomas Tatar will make his return to Detroit this Thursday when the Vegas Golden Knights roll into town. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t light up the LCA.
- That’s four straight games that the Wings have lost. It’s not a great record to come home to. Now, they have back-to-back games against the Golden Knights and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Their schedule isn’t getting any easier and the playoffs are now a pipe dream.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON LAST NIGHT’S PERFORMANCE? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
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