Wings Post-Game: Halloween Hangover

Coming down from the high after a win against Arizona, Detroit took the trip to Ottawa and the Canadian Tire Centre to take on the Sens on Thursday night. Ottawa is coming off of a bad 8-3 defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens – so hopefully this will be a fun and offensive game of hockey. But, Ottawa will be Ottawa.

The main focal point at the beginning of this game was the weirdly called-back Cody Ceci goal. Whether you believe the decision to call it back was the right one or the wrong one, it was definitely a topic of discussion among fans of both teams.

 

From what I can tell, the leading reason as why the goal was called back was Zach Smith’s elbow grazing the top of Howard’s mask. Although not the best example of interference (or even one at all), this game stays level just 3:27 into the first period.

As the scoreless period continued, both teams had big opportunities to score the first goal of the game, but neither prevailed. First was the all-important “Kid Line” of Athanasiou, Larkin and Mantha – after a strong forecheck by Larkin to wrestle the puck away from Oduya in the corner, he set up an excellent one-timer for Mantha. Unfortunately Anderson played the pass well and was in position for the shot.

 

After a very typical display of Guy Boucher hockey, Hoffman demonstrated some of his skill while taking a hard stretch pass while he enters the offensive zone.

 

Howard is doing all he can to keep the game scoreless but eventually Mark Stone takes advantage of a mess of bodies in front of the net and scores his eighth of the season with just 55 seconds left in the first period.

 

The second period started with some exciting offensive-zone time by the kid line – after one good possession, this team fills it’s fans with hope of an equalizing goal. But after that, this game was lacking offense from both teams throughout the second period until Burrows doubles the Sen’s lead with a powerplay goal 11:25 into the period and with just 14 seconds left in the man advantage.

Athanasiou was caught in the middle of the Senator’s powerplay setup and was exposed by a pass by Phaneuf to Stone to assist the goal – AA should have most likely been able to cover or even intercept.

After the goal goal by Burrows, Ottawa controlled the game. They executed their neutral zone 1-3-1 structure to near perfection and the Wings could not enter their offensive zone with any ease. It is the most frustrating hockey to watch and after 40 minutes, hope is extremely low for a potential comeback.

That style of hockey continued on for the majority of the third period. Ottawa became even more tightly-knit in their strategy and any Detroit forward had the toughest of time just getting into the zone. If they were successful then their best bet was just to go deep and set up behind the net or in the corner to make a weak play towards the net.

Overall, not the most watchable fifteen minutes of Red Wings hockey this season.

With just 3:23 left in the third period though, Mantha provided a little glimmer of hope on the powerplay.

A beautiful tip-in for his team-leading sixth goal of the season – and set up by a wonderfully lobbed shot by Green from the point. Even though the Wings don’t deserve to win at this point, there is still the chance to get that lucky goal to even up the game late and maybe win it in overtime or the shootout.

But that was quickly shut down by an empty net goal by Nate Thompson, and gave Erik Karlsson his twelfth point in just eight games this season. Swedish Jesus.

The whole third period was a hard one to watch – with only ten shots between both teams, the offense was never really going anywhere important.

The game was pretty even up until Stone’s late first period goal and then the Wings came out of the gate with one thing in mind. Getting shots towards the net. That lasted about a good seven minutes and then Boucher really made his team clamp down in the 1-3-1 and Detroit’s offense never really recovered.

Ottawa got the two important powerplays in the second period to have the advantage – but after the powerplay expired they never really attempted to create any offense at a sustained rate. Therefore Detroit was able to climb back up and was throwing everything towards the net yet again during most of the third period – score effects are beautiful.

It was a tough time to watch a team like Ottawa toy around with Detroit’s forwards and be able to lock them down like that and have them not create any real opportunities to score.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that tonight’s Motor City MVP is Jimmy Howard. Making a few crucial saves to keep the Wings even relatively close in this game warrants the title. He did what he has done all season – save what he should have saved and then save some more. Both goals scored while he was on the ice were not his fault at all. There was nothing he could have done about either really.

Detroit’s skaters are confident with Howard in between the pipes behind them. Hopefully this performance only cements that confidence throughout the remainder of the season and the offense can start rolling.

 

The Wings head to Western Canada to face the Edmonton Oilers for the first time this season. The Oilers are on an extremely disappointing 3-7-1 start to their season and hopefully that continues Sunday – or McDavid will smell blood and burst through Kronwall for a highlight reel goal.

Puck drop is at 4:00 P.M. EST and you can watch it on FS-D or Sportsnet West in Canada. You can listen to it on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit as well.

As always, Brock Seguin will have the pre-game report for you on WingsNation.com.