Wings Quell Avalanche, Win 3-2

One had to figure coming into this evening's game that the Detroit Red Wings were going to show some spirit, perhaps even two games worth.  It would've been the least they could after their embarrassing showing in front of their own fans yesterday.  Sure enough, the Wings played with passion and put their 7-1 drubbing from Chicago behind them and pulled out to a 3-0 lead on the Colorado Avalanche, holding on for a 3-2 final.

The Wings would rely heavily on the superb play of netminder Jimmy Howard, who was pulled from yesterday's game through no real fault of his own.  It seems coach Mike Babcock simply decided to let Howard start the process of getting ready for tonight rather than leave him in for the Easter morning massacre, and tonight it paid off.  The Detroit goaltender played excellently, weathering everything Colorado threw at him early on, giving his team the chance to secure a lead, which they happily obliged.

The Wings began the scoring in the 1st when Justin Abdelkader struck the puck in mid-air--below the crossbar also, didn't even go to review--and past Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov.  Seems someone forgot to tell Abby the Tigers game had already ended, but the Wings would gladly take the goal.  Then, in the 2nd period, Detroit got a break when Johan Franzen threw a puck out in front from behind the Colorado net.  With two red jerseys bearing down on the crease, Danny Cleary got his stick to the puck and buried it to extend the lead to 2-0.  The trio of Red Wings goals would be capped off by a guy who has been very dry of late.  With Gustav Nyquist weaving Datsyukian-like magic in the offensive end, the final recipient would be Damien Brunner.  Nyquist found the Swiss star and his shot flew clean past Varlamov to pull ahead to a 3-0 lead.

That would end Varlamov's night, with J.S. Giguere coming on in relief of the beaten netminder.  Detroit continued to find points to apply pressure, but admittedly it did seem as thought the Wings eased off the throttle from that point on.  In the early stages of the 3rd, Colorado would strike on the powerplay, ruining Jimmy Howard's bid for his third shutout of the year on a play that looked as though it could have easily been blown dead for interference by the Avs.  Detroit's lead would shrink further in the waning minutes, as the Avalanche would empty their net and get rewarded with another goal, bringing the lead down to 1.  Thankfully the Wings were able to clamp down and hold off the rest of the Colorado siege and stop their winless skid at home before going back on the road.

Even though the Red Wings came away with the victory tonight, it did not however appear to be a great game organization-wise.  Detroit is still showing too many defensive holes and the offense is still a bit sloppy, but it was a vast improvement from yesterday's debacle.  It will be interesting to see if Wings GM Kenny Holland is active before the Wednesday trade deadline, or if he decides to sit on his hands and gamble with what he's got and what he'll be getting back once injuries heal.

Wings Waddle out of West Coast in Boring Loss to Sharks

Last night's game in San Jose was a hard one to watch, and not just because the Red Wings didn't come away with the win.  Yes, Detroit lost 2-0 to the Sharks, but the game overall--on both sides of the ice--was chore to watch, and certainly not worth staying up till 1AM ET to behold.

Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns both score for San Jose in less than highlight-reel fashion.  Pavelski's shot deflected in off of Niklas Kronwall's skate and past netminder Jimmy Howard, while Burns's effort was borne from one of many Detroit defensive miscues, with the Sharks blueliner-turned-forward ripping the puck over Howard's glove short side.

That's really all that happened in this game for 60 minutes.  The only other thing noteworthy was the magic show Pavel Datsyuk put on for the fans at HP Pavillion, culminating when he deked Logan Couture so hard Couture literally fell on his rear.  Everything else was completely ho-hum hockey.  Once the Sharks got the lead, they did exactly the same thing Phoenix did, effectively turtling by switching to a 1-4 trap scheme, they stopped pressuring Detroit as much and just waited for Detorit to make their own mistakes.  The Wings did not disappoint them, either.  With turnovers and errant passes aplenty, the Red Wings made the Sharks look like geniuses, doing all the work for them.

With only one penalty having been called the entire game, Detroit didn't get much chance to flex their special teams muscles, but considering how they played, it's hard to say for sure that they would have been as effective as they've been in recent matches.  Howard's play in net was stellar as always, and gave Detroit the chance to come back, but his teammates just simply did not play to the level required to rally back from a 2-0 deficit. Even if the Sharks hadn't scored those two goals, it hardly looked like the Red Wings were going to generate anything on offense, creating another one of those games where Jimmy gets hung out to dry by a flash goal drought.

In the end, what matters most is Detroit missed out on the 2 points, and it's already to the stage now where points of separation are critical.  The Wings should already be in playoff mode, because every game from here on in is that important.  9th place in the conference is not that far away, and if Detroit isn't careful, they could be staring it in the face come game 48.

Wings Find Themselves Late, Rally past Coyotes

There was speculation that, after the elation of the 2-game sweep of the Ducks in Anaheim, Detroit may suffer a hangover of sorts as they entered Jobing.com Arena for their  matchup against the Phoenix Coyotes. To an extent, the speculators may have been right, but fans were treated to a welcome sight, as Detroit managed to rally from a temporary meltdown and battle back to claim their third straight win, defeating Phoenix 3-2.

Detroit opened the scoring when Ian White loosed a shot from the point that weaved through traffic and past Coyotes goalie Jason LaBarbera for the 1-0 lead.  Instead of keep the momentum going, however, Detroit started slipping mentally, with a lot of poor decisions and standing around in the defensive zone.  Before they knew it, the Wings were staring at a 2-1 deficit.

Phoenix's first goal on the powerplay was the result of a good tip and lots of traffic in the way of Red Wings goaltender Jonas Gustavsson.  The second goal was the infuriating one, as the Monster made two great stops, but there was no urgency by the other Wings on the ice to move the puck away from the crease.  As a result, Rob Klinkhammer waltzed right up to a down-and-out Gustavsson's vacant left side and pounded home the puck.

As the game progressed in the 2nd period, things didn't seem very bright as the Wings' play didn't seem to improve, but a timely powerplay and a goal from Johan Franzen knotted the game back up at 2 apiece late in the period.  Taking that to the locker room seemed to be just what Detroit needed, as they came out a revived hockey club for the final frame.  The Eurotwin powers erupted 6 minutes into the 3rd, as Henrik Zetterberg would find resident magician Pavel Datsyuk with a pass off a Coyotes skate and number 13 made no mistake, burying the puck and giving Detroit the lead once again.

From then on, it was a frantic pace, with the Wings holding on as Phoenix pressed to try and tie the game back up, culminating in a penalty shot awarded to Lauri Korpikoski.  With the lead on the line, the Monster did not falter, shutting the door and preserving Detroit's lead.  Even after Phoenix pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker, the Wings simply buckled down and kept the chances to a minimum right up till the final horn sounded.

The victory tonight was huge for the Red Wings, who have now won three straight, as well as 5 straight on the road.  They will finish up this amazing road trip on Thursday in San Jose before heading home for a pair of games at the Joe.  They have already made more hay in the west coast sunshine than anyone could've hoped for, but a win against the Sharks would be an incredible boost to both Detroit's still-rising confidence and their playoff hopes, as they continue to dig in their heels and prevent themselves from slipping in the standings.

This road trip could very well end up being the defining moment of the regular season for the Detroit Red Wings of 2013, and we'll see how it comes to a close come Thursday.

Wings Savor Valuable 5-1 Win in Anaheim

With the second half of the season well underway, the Red Wings know there are games they need to win even if the odds are against them.  Last night was one of those games, as Detroit skated into Honda Centre and reminded the Anaheim Ducks how to play a good road game.  Justin Abdelkader exploded offensively, notching his first NHL career hat trick, and Pavel Datsyuk got goal #250 and assist #500 of his career in what was a stellar outing for the Wings.  Both players will more than likely say, however, that the best part of last night was earning 2 points against a hot team that many expected more tenacity from.

The game was hectic with plenty of compelling moments, not all of them good for Detroit.  Anaheim seemed to score the opening goal, but it was determined that Emerson Etem kicked the puck in with the heel of his skate before it crossed the goal line behind Jimmy Howard.  After review, the call was overturned, and the game remained scoreless.  As is the scary tradition with Detroit--or so it seems to be, at least--they did not immediately clamp down, and ended up still giving up the opening goal to Teemu Selanne on a smooth cross-ice pass during an odd-man rush.

That seemed to finally wake up the Wings.

Abdelkader and Datsyuk each notched a goal in the 1st to secure the lead before the end of the opening frame.  They did not look back from that point, with Abdelkder scoring again 3 minutes into the 2nd, summarily ending Viktor Fasth's night.  Jonas Hiller came on to man the Ducks' crease, but the bleeding just would not stop.  10 minutes later, Abby would bury his third of the night, and Detroit would head into the 3rd with a 4-1 lead.

Amidst the resounding chant of "Let's go Red Wings!" coming from the stands in Honda Centre, Detroit kept pressure on the Ducks, never really giving them time to properly get into their rhythm.  Despite being outshot all game long, the Red Wings played as solid a game as they've mustered all season defensively, and it seemed as though the idea of simplicity was starting to sink in.  For a moment, it looked as though Abdelkader would have a 4-goal night at the 15:17 mark of the 3rd, but replays proved otherwise, as what appered to be Abby's stick making contact with the puck turned out to be an Anaheim limb, so the last Red Wing to play the puck, namely Johan Franzen, got credit for the 5-1 goal.

Equally admirable last night was Howard, who barred the door after the review on Etem and subsequent Selanne goal.  Jimmy has done this many times this season, he just hasn't always had his teammates roar to life with 5 unanswered goals on the heels of his determined netminding.  Howard was also stellar on the PK, which actually functioned very well as a unit last night.

All in all, it was a fun match to watch for Wings fans.  It will be interesting to see the changes made for tomorrow's encore, as the Wings go right back to Honda Centre to try and do it all again for another precious pair of points, as Detroit's season ages into the 30's.