WINGS POSTGAME: Exiled by the King
By Cameron Kuom
4 years agoThe Red Wings losing streak has reached eight games, following tonight’s 1-0 loss to the New York Rangers. It was an overall much better effort than the one we saw on Friday at Madison Square Garden, but unfortunately Henrik Lundqvist came to play. The future hall-of-famer turned away all 33 shots he faced, pitching a shutout for the first time in over two years.
The Rangers take both games of the home-and-home series. Not the end result you like to see from the Red Wings perspective.
Thoughts and Highlights
- Valtteri Filppula played his his 1000th career game and he turned in a pretty decent performance. In 16 minutes of ice time, the Finnish centerman nearly potted Detroit’s first goal. Madison Bowey (who also played a great game) stepped up and found a driving Filppula, who just couldn’t finish the play off.
- This wasn’t Detroit’s only squander opportunity. In the dying seconds the puck popped out to Robby Fabbri for a wide open net. Unfortunately, the puck bounced over his stick and the final horn sounded.
- For the second night in a row, Justin Abdelkader mixed it up with some of the Rangers. Last night it was with Brendan Lemieux, today it was Jacob Trouba. The two had several altercations after iffy hits. The second of which spurred Givani Smith to step in.
- The star of this game was undoubtedly Henrik Lundqvist. “The King” made several point-blank saves. The most notable coming at 4-on-4 against Patrik Nemeth. Dylan Larkin collected the puck behind the net and set up Nemeth for a golden scoring chance. In vintage Lundqvist fashion, he bailed the Rangers out with a huge glove save to preserve the lead.
- Overshadowed in the loss, Jonathan Benier played a solid game. Only allowing one goal, he gave the team a chance to win.
Gif of the Game
The loss may sting, but it was nice to see Lundqvist pick up a win after sitting for over three weeks. Over the years, Lundqvist has only been a great competitor against Detroit, one that will be missed when his playing days are over.
Motor City MVP
Jonathan Bernier
Because the team failed to score a goal, it would feel like an injustice to not give Bernier the Motor City MVP nod. He stopped 30 of 31 shots and is finally stringing together consistent performances. Compared to last year, as well as the early start to this season, Bernier’s run with the Wings hasn’t gotten off to a hot start. The past few months have quite easily been the best stretch of games he’s put together since coming to Detroit.
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