POSTGAME: EVEN OTT SCORES

That win against Philly earlier this week felt pretty clutch. Steady the ship, get back on the board and try and correct last week’s mishaps. There’s no better solution for getting some momentum than beating down on a much weaker opponent. It’s a win-win really. Detroit gets a fresh two points and Nolan Patrick gets one game closer to the west coast. 

Fast starts. 

Getting pucks to the net has been an issue this year and I’ll be damned if on the first shift they don’t get that going. Larkin in the right place at the right time, 30 seconds in:

That was a shot from each forward on that line and just a great sequence we don’t see much from the Wings. Even this game they had troubles keeping up that pace set on the first shift. Although they came out fast, the Wings still found themselves outshot 14-8 by periods end. Thankfully, they managed to net a second one in the first frame:

No screen, not a particularly impressive shot, just sort of sums up how Ryan Miller’s season has been going thus far. After one the Wings found themselves up 2-0.

The most notable thing about the second period was the absence of the Red Wings best forward as of late, Andreas Athanasiou. He left the fame with a reported lower-body injury and did not return. Blashill said after the game it looked like a knee issue but no further update as of yet. 

The second period saw a pair of failed power-play attempts for the Wings and a successful kill late. Shots were 11-8 in the frame for Vancouver and Howard continued his phenomenal play.

2-0 for the Wings going into the third is a scary lead. Last year they were blowing games like this left and right and without a single regulation win in their last seven games it was easy to be on edge. Vancouver kept pressing and Howard continued to look great. After some sustained pressure, Vancouver finally found themselves on the board with this beauty from the Sedin’s:

Wasn’t anything Howard could do on that one. Kronwall may still be spinning in place at the top of the crease right now. The push continued as the Canucks were well over 30 shots but some luck finally came late. 

I know what you were thinking this summer. What could the Red Wings possibly be doing singing Steve Ott? Furthermore, you were probably watching the game and thought, with less than 5 minutes to play why are Ott, Marchenko and Ericsson all on the ice at the same time when we’re only up by one? The answer is simple, they were ready to unleash this play they’ve been practicing for weeks:

For a second there I thought Holmstrom was back. 

3-1 was enough to seal the deal although Zetterberg almost made it 4-1 were it not for Miller. Probably his best save of the season after realizing his team lost possession as he was trying to get to the bench:

Not a great showing but not a terrible one either. That was a game they should have and did win. Losing AA for any period of time could be real bad for that forward group but hopefully there’s an update soon. The Wings just have the red hot Habs in Montreal on saturday to start a tough three game stretch that also includes Tampa and Washington. Buckle up for some likely hurt in the next seven days.