WINGS POSTGAME: Thunderstruck

Photo Credit: Kim Klement/USA TODAY SPORTS

The boys are back! While it was fun watching Dylan Larkin blow everybody away during the NHL’s All-Star weekend, there’s a lot of real hockey left to be played in the season, and every game matters. Tonight, the Red Wings took on the Tampa Bay Lightning and, unfortunately, didn’t get the result they wanted in a 3-1 loss.

The first period was relatively boring, but one that the Red Wings had solid control of, outshooting the Lightning 10-4. Interestingly, the refs were pretty good about avoiding using their whistles throughout, only calling a single infraction which led to a successful penalty kill by Detroit.

If only they were so lucky in the second, though. Just a minute into the period, Alexey Marchenko watched a pass by Braydon Coburn without realizing that JT Brown was right behind him, which led to an easy tap-in for the Tampa Bay forward. Gustav Nyqvist came back with his fourteenth of the year just a few minutes later, but the Red Wings’ penalty kill was tested once again. Pavel Datsyuk found himself making a rare visit to the box for tripping Tyler Johnson, and the very same Johnson turned it into his sixth of the season to regain the lead after just a minute and a half without it.

Penalty troubles would come back to haunt the Wings once again in the third, as Gustav Nyqvist put the team a man short in the opening minutes, leading to Nikita Kucherov giving his team an insurance tally. Despite Detroit’s best efforts, they weren’t able to get the game any closer before the final buzzer.

The game was a decent one overall, but penalties taken by atypical offenders came back to haunt the team. One-for-three is an unacceptable efficiency when a man short, but there shouldn’t have been much reason to test the PK unit to begin with.

It looked pretty obvious to me that this was a set play, with Tatar trying to draw a rebound, and it worked out exactly as expected. Nyqvist had all the time in the world to beat Bishop, and while he almost fell victim to a heroic save, it was enough to get the team their only goal of the night.

Not the best of results for the Wings, but they’ll have another chance at turning it around tomorrow when they take on the Florida Panthers. Jaromir Jagr might be an ageless wonder, but if any team knows how to counter those, it’s the Wings. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM.