Wings Post-Game: You’re Welcome, Toronto!
By Nick Seguin
7 years agoThe recently eliminated Red Wings looked to play spoiler to the Senators tonight as Ottawa visited the Joe for the last time. The Senators, who were at one point sitting comfortably at 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, are now barely holding on to the last Wild Card spot. Though they were saddled with injuries, they needed the win badly. And the Wings, not in need of points right now, were also saddled with injuries. It provided an opportunity for young gun Evgeni Svechnikov to make his NHL debut, though. Let’s see how he and the rest of the team did.
The Rundown
The first period went by very quickly. Svechnikov was on the ice for the opening faceoff on a line with Dylan Larkin and Justin Abdelkader. Svech had a good period. He was quick on his skates and confident with the puck deep in the offensive zone. Other than a nasty DeKeyser giveaway that led to a scoring chance for Hoffman, the Wings had a pretty good period. They outshot the Sens 16-8, but the period ended scoreless.
The second period got off to a much better start as the Wings scored in the first minute. Behind the net, Frans Nielsen passed the puck out front to none other than Riley Sheahan, who… Didn’t touch it. The puck went off a Senator skate on the way to Sheahan and ended up behind Anderson. A tough break for Sheahan who would have scored on the play, but a good bounce for the Wings.
Less than a minute later, the Sens responded as Erik Karlsson found Alex Burrows in the high slot who fired a shot that deflected off Tatar’s stick and ended up behind Mrazek. About five minutes later, Svechnikov made a quick pass at the blueline to Larkin who darted in alone. The puck was stopped, but it was a pretty pass by Svech. The play was blown dead as the Wings would take a penalty for having too many men on the ice.
While on the penalty kill, Nick Jensen skated the puck into the Ottawa zone and found Larkin skating through the middle. Larkin carried the puck behind the goal line and tried to centre it. It went off Anderson and into the net. It was Larkin’s first shorthanded goal of his career.
The score would remain at 2-1 until the end of the period, but Ottawa was much stronger in this period. They outshot Detroit 14-6, but Mrazek stayed strong, carrying the lead into the third.
The third period was an exciting one as the teams exchanged goals. Ottawa tied it on a weird bounce that came from Karlsson centering the puck from behind the goal line. Nyquist then added two powerplay goals when Ottawa took back-to-back tripping penalties. Finally, Turris wired a wrist shot past Mrazek to bring the Sens back within one. This last one was off a failed clearing attempt by Nick Jensen. A tough break, but a good lesson for a young player.
The game seemed to have finally calmed down when Ottawa tied it up on a one-timer off the faceoff with 7:16 left to play. Regulation would end in a 4-4 tie, but the third period wasn’t pretty for the Red Wings. The game ended with the Wings being outshot 38-28.
3-on-3 overtime came with it’s regular excitement as the teams charged back and forth up and down the ice. Chance after chance was turned away by the goaltenders and it culminated with Gustav Nyquist, speeding down the ice on a breakaway, his hat trick goal on the tip of his stick with a single second left on the clock. Alas, Anderson came up with a big save and we’re off to the shootout.
After going six rounds without either team scoring, Blashill made the bold decision to put Svechnikov in for the seventh round. And, wouldn’t you know it, he SCORED! It was a beauty, too!
Ottawa was unable to match it the other way, so the Wings would take home the two points. In the other Atlantic Division match-up, the Leafs beat the Sabres 4-2. Not a great night for Ottawa.
The Stats
The Wings had a decent game, but they completely collapsed in the third period. Once again, they failed to close out a game and gave up a two-goal lead in the third. Some positives: Svechnikov and Larkin looked really good together and Tomas Nosek had a great game around the net. A negative: Andreas Athanasiou had 6.52 minutes on the ice, second lowest on the team.
Motor City MVP
Tonight’s Motor City MVP is Gustav Nyquist. Goose scored two goals, both on the powerplay, recorded 5 shots, and was 51.35% in 5v5 CF. A solid game from a top-6 forward. If nothing else, Nyquist’s play as of late is building up his trade value.
Up Next
Red Wings hockey is back tomorrow night with the second game of the home-and-home series against the Ottawa Senators. Gametime is 7:30 PM and you can catch the action on FS-D or TSN 5. If you can’t watch it, you can always listen on 97.1 FM The Ticket. As always, Brock Seguin will have your pre-game report tomorrow afternoon.
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