WINGS POSTGAME: Leafs crunch the Wings
4 years ago
After a disappointing 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes, Detroit looked to take a win from an improving Toronto team after firing former Wings coach Mike Babcock. A rough start with wacky goaltender change were only the beginning of troubles for Detroit as their lack of competitiveness kept them scoreless again.
Thoughts and Highlights
- Just 1:04 into the game, the puck bounced off of Nielsen while he was backing into the Detroit net, giving Toronto a rare early lead with the goal credited to Dermott.
- The unfortunate bounces for the Wings would not stop there. A puck blasted from Barrie deflects off of Hirose’s stick, bouncing past Howard for an early 2-0 lead for the visitors.
- Things only get more upsetting for Detroit after the third Toronto goal by Tavares. During the zone time for the Leafs, Howard was hurting, and needed help off the ice after the goal. Bernier, who wasn’t supposed to play tonight as he’s ill, ends up being the last resort option after a lengthy break.
- Even with the first two goals being deflections, Detroit had some fight and chances of their own, but let Toronto overpower and take control of the period with 16 shots.
- Another early period goal really kills the game for Detroit. It’s Nylander with some nifty hand eye coordination to bounce the puck past an unsuspecting Bernier. The next two goals came from Johnsson, one being an awkward push as the puck was on the line, and the second being a backhander on the power play that puts his team up 6-0.
- It’s fairly obvious at this point that the Red Wings have just given up. After 2 periods, the Leafs held a 40-16 shot advantage. Bernier, Zadina, Hronek, Filppula, and Athanasiou seemed to be the only players who urged enough to care about the remainder of the game.
- There was no additional goal in the third, but the game was long over before then. Even without Mantha, Green, and Dekeyser – this was one of Detroit’s worse performances of the season. The overall lack of urgency and energy coming from the majority of the Wings in their own building is embarrassing.
- Final shots were 54 to 25.
- There is no point in keeping Filip Zadina up if the Wings keep on this losing slide. His presence does nothing to help his development if this surrounding team lacks effort.
Gif of the Game
When neither goaltender is available and you just want to see the chaos of playing an emergency goaltender for 50 minutes
Motor City MVP
All credit is given to Jonathan Bernier for playing tonight. While the degree of his illness is unknown, I imagine it can’t be an easy task to play under the weather, especially against a front loaded roster like Toronto. The final score is obviously ugly, but Bernier managed the storm in a game that was already out of hand when he started to dress.
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