Win or lose, it’s always important that you don’t take hockey too seriously.

You’re never as good as you think you are when you win, and you’re never as bad as you think you are when you lose.

Well, at least that’s probably what the Red Wings could be thinking tonight.

Somehow, some way, the Wings pulled off a 4-0 road win over the LA Kings.

The Wings scored their first goal within the first two minutes of a game since 1935, with Thomas Vanek netting before the game was less than two minutes old.

 

Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Andreas Athanas.

Andreas Athanasiou?

Exactly.

2-0 Wings, 10 minutes in.

 

Vanek would score again to make it 3-0 Wings by the end of 1.

The Wings would ride cruise control through the remainder of the night, but as you’ll see in the next section, boy did they make it plausible for LA to come back.

Thankfully, Anthony Mantha looked at the net and found it midway through period 3 to put the game out of reach.

8 Wings had a CF% of 30 or less. Eight! And they won by 4! What a silly night, and what a solid performance by Jared Coreau.

The Red Wings had 19 shot attempts over the final two periods. The Kings had 48. Go figure.

Despite a three-point night for Athanasiou, stick tap to Jared Coreau for his first NHL shutout after a few rough starts for him. 34/34 = perfection. Can’t argue with that.

One more game on this Cali trip against San Jose on Saturday night.