POSTGAME: ISLES REIGN

Detroit entered this one red hot after back-to-back wins against the Capitals and the Pens. With the deadline approaching and their bye-week coming up, there are a lot of decisions to be made regarding the roster, the direction and the overall look of this team. This Tuesday evening showing against the Islanders was not a good look for most of the guys out there as Detroit’s play came back down to earth pretty quickly. 

Every now and then Detroit goes on these nice little runs where everything goes their way. We saw a lot of it this past weekend and some of that magic dust seemed to be lingering. Mrazek got bailed out twice in the frame by his posts on some nice plays as Detroit spent a good chunk of that one in their own zone. Even with bounces going your way, sometimes an error is so egregious that even luck can’t help you:

Mrazek is generally a decent puck handler but I’m sure he wants that one back.

Now, much has been said this year about Dylan Larkin’s struggles. Granted, getting removed from the top line would stifle anyone’s offensive output but the extra attention this season has clearly been getting to him. So when I saw that Abdelkader was being put on Larkin’s line I thought great, if Abdelkader isn’t going to score 20 (he won’t) then at least he can earn some of that salary opening up space for someone who can. But then as Larkin planted himself in front of the net with under a minute left he got hacked, slashed, crosschecked, held, punched and generally abused by the much larger Scott Mayfield. Larkin did draw the call but how does a player like Abdelkader just stand back and watch that happen? Call it an old school or outdated mentality but if that was Laine or Marner or Werenski the response would have been appropriate by any number of their teammates. A kid like Larkin has to know you’ve got his back and this season quite frankly, I haven’t seen it. 

The Detroit power-play went to work with three seconds left on the clock and surprisingly, that was all it needed. Zetterberg with the goal with 0.1 seconds left:

How quickly luck can change. 

Some bad penalties, some bad bounces and some awful luck and suddenly it’s a 2-1 game for the Isles:

Off Mrazek, off Ouellet, Mrazek again and into the net. 

Again though, Mrazek continues to carry this team. After a bad first goal he was nothing but stellar from that moment on including this highlight save on Tavares:

The game opened up a little bit, got a little scrappier and finally started to show how desperate both teams were for the two points. 

Sometimes it’s close and you’re in it. Other times you just feel the game slipping away. Detroit wasn’t really going when the third started. Back and fourth but few real threats and just not enough quality chances. Then finally, Tavares sought revenge for that save in the second period:

Sadly, from there Detroit failed to do any damage. Isles played it safe, played it close and secured their two points.

Bye-week. If Holland is smart he gets some deals done.