A big night as the Wings play their first game in 10 months, against the same opponent as our last game. This time lead by Dylan Larkin rocking the C on his sweater, long may he reign.
- Welcome back Danny DeKeyser!
- Welcome new guys whose names and numbers I need to learn!
- Happy 50th anniversary (+ 1 day) of Mickey Redmond being traded to Detroit!
- Happy Game #200 Tyler Bertuzzi!
- Happy Game #400 Jeff Blashill/
Hello Out There.
We’re On The Air.
IT’S HOCKEY NIGHT TONIGHT.Time to meet your 2021 Detroit Red Wings.#LGRW pic.twitter.com/bj6wIwjJ7t
— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) January 15, 2021
If you missed the game, the people you’re seeing in the stands are family members and staff. Attendance is capped at 250. There are also cutouts of the Little Caesars mascot guy thingy, I assume those are also alive but immune to disease.
First Period
Larkin, Bert and Mantha start us off and Old Friend Petr Mrazek is in net for the Canes. Two minutes in and the Wings have two shots on net.
Wings are getting knocked over left, right and center. Larkin’s pass gets knocked out of midair by Aho and Niederreiter puts it behind Greiss. It’s 1-0 Canes less than 4 minutes in. Red Wings hockey is back baby, yeah!
I haven’t watched hockey in a while, but I’m going to say the defensive coverage was “not good” on this one.
GIVE ME FUEL
GIVE ME FIRE
GIVE ME NINO NIEDERREITER pic.twitter.com/O7LBABqpYR— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 15, 2021
Zadina doing some nice work with Namestnikov and Fabbri. The better they work together the more likely we get to keep our fun first line together. With 11:10 to go we get our first whistle since the goal, this period is flying by.
Skjei catches Hronek up high (but definitely not in the head) near the bench. Bert snarls a bit but that’s it. Expecting to see more disagreements as the game goes on. The Wings get their first real good chance as Filppula, Bromé and Gagner all gather around the net but Mrazek is able to fend them off.
About 5 minutes to go and, stop me if you’ve heard this before, the wheels are falling off a bit. “Red Wings gotta get themselves together, defensively.” Yeah, tell me about it Mick. Canes take the edge in shots 9-4, but nothing too spectacular.
Bromé is a PEST. I think I love him? Nothing wrong with a little Broméance. He hustles all by himself using his hockey posterior to protect the puck and bump Skjei out of his way. Zooms around the back of the net and rings one off the crossbar. Great play.
That brings us to the end of the period. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t terrible. Canes have played more recently and we have a handful of new faces to slot in, it could have been a lot worse. We’ll see what Captain Larkin does to rally the gang for the second period.
Mickey Redmond Quote of the Period: “Everybody’s having a little itch in their get-a-long”
Second Period
Larkin, Mantha and Bert out to take the faceoff again. We get our first “holy jumpin” of the season from Mick who is laughing in delight at the fake crowd booing noise at a borderline penalty not being called. There have been none in the game yet but now we finally have one with 16:54 left.
Our first penalty of the season goes to Jon Merrill for high-sticking. He’s cooling his heels in the Bad Boy Box as the Red Wings try out their penalty kill. The penalty is killed but before the puck is cleared Greiss has to do some scrambling. But, they got it done!
Halfway through the period and our top line has woken up a bit more. Mrazek makes a nice save and Teravainen knocks away a pass that could have easily become a Larkin goal. They’ve at least injected some energy into the fake crowd and the rest of the team. Shots are 21-9 Canes.
A lot of poking at pucks and not so much purposeful attacks going on.
6:26 to go and it’s time for a RRRRRED WINGS POWERPLAAAAAAY! Skjei heads to the Terrarium of Punishment for being a big meanie and tripping Larkin. The powerplay lacks both power and plays. The second unit makes a few little waves as Hronek and Fabbri both have some near misses.
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! Big Dougie Hamilton (6’6”) picks a fight with Regular-Size Sam Gagner (5’11”) after getting knocked down. Sam holds his own, stick taps to him.
You mess with Sam, you mess with the whole Shire, Dougie. Watch your back.
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) January 15, 2021
We end the period with Canes still up 1-0 and the Wings only down 1-0.
Only being down by one goal after two periods is a victory compared to last season. Haven’t seen any signs of the “oh no we made one mistake let’s all completely crumble for the next 10 minutes” momentum. Greiss seems calm and collected so even when the skaters falter he’s not turning into a sieve (I’m sorry I love you Jimmy but you know it was bad).
Getting outplayed but not falling apart. That’s improvement!
Mickey Redmond QOTP: “Like picking cherries, as Dominik Hasek used to say.”
Third Period
Top line back to work with some pep in their step. Next shift sees Greiss making two big saves in a row which could have been a big uh-oh. But now the Wings get a chance to even things up, it’s powerplay time as Foegle heads off for hooking!
Drop pass on the powerplay does not work. Again. Please stop doing that. The Red Wings powerplay successfully kills the Red Wings powerplay. Excellent work!
Adam Erne, yes Adam Erne, finds himself in front of the net with the puck but Petr Mrazek pokes it away.
I haven’t found myself specifically cursing the defense yet, but maybe that’s just me. It could be because I don’t know everybody’s names well enough to immediately recognize their blunders. Staal is on thin ice, and not in a way that Al Sobotka can fix.
9 minutes to go and the Red Wings have 12 shots. The Canes have 35. That seems fine. We only need one to go in…
5 minutes to go and our Captain Dylan Larkin is taking a timeout for tripping Dougie Hamilton. With :13 left in the penalty, Patrik Nemeth is also going to the plastic prison. 3 minutes left in the game and half of that will be spent on the penalty kill.
The penalty is not killed. Dzingel makes it 2-0 Canes. That was shot number 42 for anyone counting.
Greiss skates to the bench.
Svechnikov scores the empty netter. 3-0 Canes.
Mickey Redmond QOTP: “Not the way they wanted this messed up situation to start if you’re the Red Wings”
Important Final Note
Now, if you missed the broadcast you may be wondering “Who is Fergal Larkin?” This is going to be a joke for the rest of forever so make sure you’re in the loop. They were doing a “what would your name be if it wasn’t your name” thing and Dylan said it would be something Irish, like Fergal(sp?) I think the other name was Connor? Colin? Doesn’t matter, it wasn’t funny. Fergal Larkin. Captain Fergal Larkin.
