WingsNation Postgame: DeKomeback

Given the nagging habit that this fine network has of teams becoming bad as soon as we begin to cover them, I don’t think we could have had a more fitting game to kick things off with. What started off as a head scratch culminated in one of the most entertaining stretches of hockey from any team this season, with the Detroit Red Wings overcoming a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 over the Arizona Coyotes in overtime.

This game didn’t get off to the best of starts. Most of Detroit’s attempts at scoring ended up getting stuck in a pack of Coyotes for the bulk of the first period while Arizona was able to pour it on at the other side. Petr Mrazek, thankfully, was on top of his game right from the get-go, and turned the 12-5 shot disadvantage into something that didn’t cause any scoreboard harm in the first period.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t impenetrable. Five minutes into the second, lacklustre attempt to carry the puck out by Mike Green put the Wings in a rough spot. Shane Doan fired the loose puck over to Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the right side, and the star defender built a scoring chance that wasn’t initially successful, but after a few bounces, he was able to finish to put his team up. With a minute to go in the second period, Arizona struck again; this time, they took advantage of a penalty to Pavel Datsyuk and crashed the net until the puck landed behind the line, with captain Shane Doan ultimately getting the goal.

Datsyuk more than made up for the situation in the third period. With Antoine Vermette in the box for a hook on Brendan Smith, everybody’s favourite magician sniped a wrister from the point to break Louis Domingue’s shutout bid. The Coyotes took another penalty almost immediately afterwards, and once again, the Wings capitalized; this time, Gustav Nyqvist lunged himself towards the net to make himself the victor of a mad scramble.

This was enough to force the game into overtime. Two minutes into the extra frame, Dylan Larkin collected the puck from Datsyuk in his own end, and, well…

What a way to end it. End to end, gorgeous deke, turns his failed attempt into a perfect setup opportunity, and Danny DeKeyser closes the night off with his fourth goal of the season, ending Detroit’s road trip with their fifth victory over the six-game stretch.

It would have been easy for the team to fold up and call it a night after the second period. Nobody would have blamed them; Louis Domingue was looking pretty unstoppable and two-goal leads are hard to make disappear in twenty minutes. But the team stayed relentless as the clock ticked, and it paid off. Nyqvist barging into traffic to grab the equalizer personified the night; you can’t succeed if you don’t attempt, and persistence paid off. Also, it helps to have over half of the “away” crowd supporting you. Fans are passionate, but “we shouldn’t even be here” fans are on another level.

Okay, so maybe that GIF is from another game. But Datsyuk is definitely our MVP. Other than scoring the first goal of the year 1 AWN (after Wings Nation), he also picked up helpers on both the Nyqvist and Dekeyser goals. Not bad for somebody who started just 40% of his shifts in the offensive zone.

I really liked this effort by Tomas Tartar. Knew his role after the draw was lost, pressured Connor Murphy, and ended up with one of the best scoring chances of the night.

Did you think this was a one-night thing? You thought wrong! We’re not going anywhere though the Wings will take a few days off. Their next game is on Saturday evening when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers at the Joe. Puck drop is at 7:30.