Wings Post-Game: Great Wall of Anderson
By Nick Seguin
7 years ago
The Wings found themselves in Canada’s capital tonight for the second half of their home-and-home against the Ottawa Senators. Last night, the Wings won a thriller in the seventh round of the shootout when rookie Evgeny Svechnikov, in his first NHL game, pulled a sweet move to beat Craig Anderson and steal the game. Jeff Blashill very quickly committed to playing Svechnikov again tonight. Unfortunately, the team looked very tired and, despite a strong start, fell 2-0 to the playoff-bound Senators.
The Rundown
For the second night in a row, Blashill started Svechnikov, Larkin, and Abdelkader. The game got off to a fast pace as the Sens were battling for a playoff berth. The Wings played disciplined, though, forcing the Sens to ice a couple of pucks and limiting them to a single shot through the first seven minutes. The first goal of the come didn’t come until 12:59 into the first when Erik Karlsson ripped a shot past Jimmy Howard for his 2nd goal and 3rd point in two games.
Before the period was up, the Wings would have to kill a hooking penalty taken by Kronwall. They did so successfully, and closed out the period with an 11-6 edge in shots.
It was a pretty quiet period, though the Senators were catching up in shots, until the twelve minute mark when Tom Pyatt picked up the puck to the right of Howard and shot it right through him, putting the Sens up 2-0.
This period was unimpressive for the Red Wings. They got a total of three shots off and took two penalties, one of which came at the very end of the period while they were on the powerplay. So they would go into the third trailing the Sens 2-0 and have to play 4-on-4 before going back onto the powerplay.
The Sens failed to convert on any special teams time, though, and the third period was more of the same. Ottawa kept the pressure on and put the puck on net at every opportunity. Halfway through the period, they had a bit of a scare when Karlsson went down awkwardly into the board and seemingly aggravated his already injured ankle. The Wings made a bit of a push towards the end of the period and it resulted into some thrown fists, but it wasn’t enough to make anything happen. The Sens would take home the two points and make their path to the playoffs a little clearer.
The Stats
This chart is a little misleading because the second period was not that good for the Red Wings. They only got 3 actual shots on net while the Sens added a goal. In any case, the Wings had a better 3rd period, but the apathy in their play made it obvious that not much would happen.
Motor City MVP
Um… Considering this team looked more checked out than Titanic from your local Blockbuster in 1998, it’s hard to name one player who deserves this title. Let’s go with Svechnikov who, in his second NHL game, had three shots, one hit, and one block. He’s looked good both last night and tonight. I could definitely see him being a regular roster player next season.
Up Next
The Wings get a few days to rest before closing out their regular season with back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, they host the Montreal Canadiens (who recently clinched the Atlantic Division title) for the Habs final visit to the Joe. Puck drop is 7:00 PM and you can watch the game on FS-D or Sportsnet if you’re in Canada. If you’re not around a TV, you can always listen to the game on 97.1 FM The Ticket. As always, we’ll have your pre-game up on the Wings Nation early Saturday afternoon.
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