RECAP: Penguins can fly, because they just flew past the Red Wings, 5-2

Man those jerseys are ugly. I mean, they look like pee-pee.

Anyways, the Red Wings went from a surging surprise team, to a flat-tired Volkswagen in what seems like a flash. Thursday night they drew a tough opponent — the Penguins, who have pulled themselves out of the basement, and into the third floor (Fuller isn’t around, and Uncle Frank drank all the Pepsi).

The Red Wings really did a great job on the Penguins in the first period. Jimmy Howard wasn’t often tested, the defense played a quick transition — and they didn’t get scored on. The loan goal of the period came from Dylan Larkin. Larkin found himself with the puck at an odd-angle and ripped it up over Matt Murray’s shoulder.

That goal would of course extend Dylan Larkin’s tear — he now has a 12-game point streak. The Wings could have easily had two or three goals in the opening period; Thomas Vanek and Filip Hronek both hit the pipe on their scoring chances. Still, they dominate most of the first period and come out with the lead.

The wagon began to rattle for the Red Wings in the middle frame. They kept it quiet until nearly 10 minutes in when Phil Kessel got the game-tying goal on the power-play. A real bad look for Jonathan Ericsson, who just flat out blew a tire and was physically unable to recover.

Just over a minute later, the Penguins kept the momentum and got the go-ahead goal from Derick Brassard. Again, Phil Kessel getting involved — the play looked to be a lucky redirect at first, but then I watched it again. This play was planned out; Phil would find Brassard’s stick near the front of the net, he threw it over to get the redirect goal.. Almost like they planned it out. The Penguins sustained their momentum and pressed the Wings into another power-play opportunity. One that would turn into another goal, from the stick of Phil Kessel. Who else?

After a really promising first period, the Red Wings squandered a nice statement with sloppy play in the second. It was a really strong period for guys like Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Hronek (he had ANOTHER great shot smack the pipe in the closing seconds), but for guys like Thomas Vanek, nothing was connecting.

The third period featured a glimmer of hope for Red Wings fans. One that would be taken away quickly. Andreas Athanasiou found himself with an open lane and an open puck just over four-and-a-half minutes in — he’d snipe it through Matt Murray’s five hole.

It appeared that the comeback was on, but Patric Hornqvist had other plans with a net front play that put them back in front. I’m not sure what it is.. But I feel like Patric Hornqvist has scored in every single game he’s played against the Red Wings (I know that’s not the case, shut up). Jeff Blashill made the (right) decision to pull Jimmy Howard with over three minutes left, but the team couldn’t get much setup before Evgeni Malkin and Derick Bouchard connected for the empty-net goal.

Outside of the first period, it was an overall flat performance by the Red Wings. Don’t look now, but they’ve only won two out of the last 10 games, and have been relegated to the Atlantic Division’s basement. Certainly there are some injuries that affects the teams performance, but with a tough schedule ahead — things could get worse before they get better.