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Anthony Comes to Bury the Stars, Not to Praise Them: Red Wings 4, Stars 3

Posted on by Pete Flynn

Pre-Game

Detroit had an up-and-down game last night, with the top line doing very well, and everyone else doing varying versions of less well.

Dallas comes into town having lost its first two games. Detroit looks to keep that losing streak alive for the Stars.

First Period

Niklas Kronwall dropped the ceremonial first puck before the start of the game. Thanks for all you did for Detroit, Nik.

Bernier had to be sharp early on as a shot was deflected in the slot by Jamie Benn. Detroit started off the game with a scoring chance, but the next 2 minutes were all Dallas.

Detroit’s top line gets a scoring chance, but Khudobin makes a relatively easy save on Anthony Mantha.

Alexander Radulov takes the first penalty of the game for hooking, and Detroit’s power play gets ready to take the ice as we go to the game’s first commercial.

The first minute passes, and Detroit can’t get anything going. The breakouts look bad, like they are out of sync. Hronek gets one shot near the end, but the first chance on the man advantage was pretty dreadful.

And it’s 1-0 Dallas. Roope Hintz rips one by Bernier from the top of the circle, and it sure looked like Bernier should have had that.

Dallas keeps the pressure on after the goal. Many people picked Detroit to be in the bottom three in the league, and it’s not hard to see that watching this game so far. The number of dump ins and missed passes is far higher than the number of tape-to-tape passes to this point.

2-0 Dallas after Tyler Seguin blows by Dylan Larkin, who tried to go for the puck. It was….not a great defensive play

Detroit goes back to the power play with 16 seconds left in the first period as Klingberg is called for interfering with Darren Helm. Larkin loses the faceoff and Dallas clears the puck, ending the first period, which was a pretty poor showing by the team in red.

The 5v5 unblocked shots heatmap certainly shows difference in scoring chances.  UPDATE: I wasn’t thinking this would update through the rest of the game. Next time I’ll take a screenshot to show what it looked like at a certain point of the game.

Second Period

GOOOOALL! Detroit finally got some zone possession on the power play, and Taro Hirose put a beautiful pass from one circle to the other for Anthony Mantha to one-time.

Shortly after, Patrick Nemeth was called for interference when Joe Pavelski fell to the ice. Some among you may think that Pavelski dove, and I think you are right. Even though the Stars had a lot of sustained zone pressure, Detroit emerges unscathed.

Andrew Cogliano trips Bertuzzi, and Detroit goes back to the power play.

Detroit’s first unit did a better job setting up earlier this time, but wasn’t able to capitalize. The second unit had some good chances as well, and even though they didn’t score on the power play, Detroit is looking better than the first period.

GOAL!!! Anthony Mantha with his second of the game. And. It. Was. Beautiful.

You could see it coming. You could see what he was going to do. And nobody could stop him. Mantha put his head down and drove around Lindell before tucking the puck by Khudobin to make it 2-2.

Detroit goes back to the power play as their greatly improved play causes the Dallas Stars to have to break the rules to try to contain them. Dallas kills the penalty off, but takes another penalty immediately. Still 2-2 with just under 7 minutes left.

Detroit takes a penalty heading into the last commercial break before the end of the period.  But nothing comes of it, and Detroit heads to the third period tied 2-2. As you can see here, the Red Wings played much better in the second.

Third Period

HAT TRICK MANTHA!  15 seconds in, Dylan Larkin nearly scored on the backhand, and Mantha was left wide open on the doorstep to tap it in. 3-2 Wings.

And now it’s 3-3. Hintz tapped in the rebound that Bernier should have controlled better. Hintz also shouldn’t have been allowed a free path to the puck.

Trevor Daley has a lower body injury and will not return.

Joe Pavelski takes out Valtteri Filppula, who I’m still thinking is Nielsen at first glance, so let’s see if Mantha can get number 4 on the power play.

With 22 seconds left on the man advantage, Dallas takes a penalty for too much man, so Detroit will get a short 5 on 3. And Mantha nearly scored number four, but Khudobin made a fantastic save off the one-timer. Cogliano then ran into Bernier to give Detroit ANOTHER 5 on 3 for 40 seconds.

The Red Wings power play continues to be mostly disappointing, as they can’t convert on so many consecutive penalties.

With 7 minutes left, Glendening was nearly the hero for the second game in a row, but unfortunately, that was not to be.

Nicholas Caamano shot the puck in and it went right into Nielsen’s face. Frans turned his head, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it still wasn’t great. He goes to the locker room.

Dallas gave the puck away right in front of their net, and Darren Helm could not convert on the wide open chance. Khudobin then made a save on a nice deflection from Abdelkader.

OH MY GOD. ANTHONY MANTHA IS NEVER GOING TO STOP SCORING. 4-3.

Hronek whipped it across the ice for a one-timer. Again. The puck deflected off Klingberg’s stick and past Khudobin.

Dallas made a frantic, all-out effort to tie the game, but Bernier kept the puck out, and Detroit wins!

Just as we all thought, they are 2-0 to start the season.

Let’s Go Red Wings!

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