WINGS POST-GAME: A LONG ISLAND ICED VICTORY

After a five game home stand that went less-than-ideally, the Wings travelled to Brooklyn for a match-up against the New York Islanders. The Isles have cooled down as of late, going 4-5-1 in their last 10, and Detroit was hoping to build off the momentum that they had started to build in Friday night’s victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It certainly wouldn’t be easy, though, especially on the Islanders’ home turf, where they were 10-2-2 this season. The Wings made it 10-3-2 tonight, as they put the Islanders down 6-3.

The Isles looked good in the first, as John Tavares stripped Luke Glendening of the puck and centered it, finding Anders Lee. Lee made no mistake and buried the puck in the bottom corner, beating Petr Mrazek and giving his team an early 1-0 lead.

The Wings responded quickly, though, as Jonathan Ericsson made a BEAUTIFUL pass through the slot to find Marty Frk, who buried his seventh goal of the season.

What I loved about this play was how it started. Dylan Larkin set the whole thing up beautifully as he kept the puck in at the line and found Ericsson in deep. That wasn’t the only Red Wings goal of the period, either.

At around the 16 minute mark, the Islanders took a holding penalty and Detroit’s powerplay went to work. Zetterberg used his intelligence to bring the puck in deep and then pass back to Nyquist who one-timed it past Thomas Greiss.

Detroit almost escaped the period cleanly, but Justin Abdelkader took a silly slashing penalty in the final minute, allowing the Isles to start the second on the powerplay. Detroit was outshot 9-6 (9-3 at 5v5) and out-attempted the Islanders 15-14 (though were out-attempted 12-13 at 5v5). Overall, it wasn’t a bad period that was helped by some powerplay time.

The second period got off to a poor start as the Isles scored on the powerplay that carried over from the first. Darren Helm failed a clearing attempt, which allowed Jordan Eberle to set up Ryan Pulock on the point.

From there, the period started to degrade for the Red Wings as Petr Mrazek had to come up big on some Islanders chances. The Isles took the lead on another powerplay (Larkin was sitting for tripping) and Matthew Barzal made a beautiful between-the-legs attempt that resulted in Josh Bailey banging the puck into the net.

The Wings were outshot badly in the second period, but they managed to escape it in a tie as Anthony Mantha ended his goalless streak with a goal from behind the net.

When you need a goal as badly as Mantha did, you don’t care where it comes from, especially when it gives your team the edge heading into the third period.

Detroit started to pick up their play in the third. The Mantha – Zetterberg – Nyquist line had a couple of good offensive shifts, keeping the Islanders on their toes. As they maintained pressure, Dylan Larkin crossed the offensive zone blueline and passed it to Zetterberg. Zetterberg found Daley who was streaking in late and absolutely sniped one past Thomas Greiss to give the Wings a 4-3 lead.

The game went back and forth a little after that, but Detroit decided they needed some insurance. So Dylan Larkin made a fantastic effort to get the puck to Mike Green who made scoring on Greiss look easy!

Green was buzzing after this as he hit the post only a minute later. The Islanders made a last effort push as they pulled their goalie, but Luke Glendening netted another one. Detroit closed them out 6-3, stealing an important two points in regulation.

Detroit had a pretty bad game up until the third period. Through the first two periods, they were badly outshot and out-attempted at 5v5. Their only saving grace was the time they got on the powerplay. When Mantha scored at the end of the second, though, it turned things around for them. Detroit outshot the Isles in the third period 10-3 and out-attempted them 21-7 at 5v5. It was the kind of hockey they need to play night in and night out (and for a whole 60 minutes) if they want to make the playoffs.

They got lucky that Greiss fell apart in the third here. With the way they played through the first two periods, they probably didn’t deserve to win this one. Luckily, they stole it anyways and took the crucial two points.

Tonight’s Motor City MVP could go to several players. Petr Mrazek played a solid game in net. Trevor Daley sniped a beautiful goal. Jonathan Ericsson had an incredible assist. Dylan Larkin had three assists.

But for tonight, I have to go with Anthony Mantha as the Motor City MVP. In scoring the game tying goal, his 13th of the season, Mantha ended a seven game goal drought. He also had a 62.50 5v5 Corsi-For percentage. It was a big bounce back game for him – something that he and the team desperately needed.

The Wings are back at it tomorrow night in Philadelphia as they take on the Flyers. Game time is 8:00 P.M. ET and you can watch the game on NBCSN. As always, Brock Seguin will have the pre-game report early Wednesday afternoon.