They did it!!
The Red Wings snapped a five-game losing streak in Buffalo on Monday night in OT by a score of 6-5. This marks the SEVENTH game in a row for Detroit that was decided by just one goal. It wasn’t pretty — some shaky goaltending was countered with big performances from the top line of forwards and some surprising depth scoring.
Copp Picks Up Two
Andrew Copp scored two goals in Monday night’s game on just around 14 minutes of ice time. You don’t get many multi-point games from this guy, maybe just a handful every season. The Wings needed someone other than the first line to step up, and he did. Credit where it’s due — without Copp, the Wings don’t win this game. He’s now on track to tie his point total last season and is technically on pace for a 20-goal season.
Cossa Earns Historic First Win
Ville Husso did not extend his streak of brilliant play in this game. He was yanked from the game after letting up three goals on seven shots. Sebastian Cossa came in as relief and, well, he definitely looked like a rookie. BUT — Cossa stopped 12 of 14 shots and kept his team in a position to pick up a point. An impressive shootout performance propelled the team to two points, making Sebastian Cossa the first goalie in NHL history to pick up his first-career win by shootout decision in relief effort. Odds are Cossa will be sent back to GR soon, but this is a huge step forward for him and another notch in his belt for what already has been a brilliant season in the AHL.
Special Teams Trade Off
The Red Wings didn’t score on their three PP attempts, but the PK did not surrender a goal on two PP tries from Buffalo. Stinks that the power play couldn’t do anything, but I’d argue it’s more important that the PK (which has been awful this season) was stout. Baby steps?
Top Line Excellence
The first line of DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond had a big night. Between the three, they scored five points combined. Larkin won 17 face offs and picked up five shots on goal in addition to his two helpers. Lucas Raymond continued his amazing season with a goal and assist, bringing his total points to 30. Raymond now has seven points in his last five games.
Keeping it Close
Like I mentioned before, the Red Wings are on a long streak of one-goal decisions. Obviously the lion’s share of those games have been losses, but what kind of conclusions can we draw from such a streak? It tells me that the defense is improving and goaltending is holding up. Letting up five goals is never a good thing — kinda hard to win in this league when you do that, but they found a way to win. I’m hoping that the team is turning a corner on being so “loosey goosey.” All that being said, I still think coaching is the biggest weakness for this team.
Kane Stays Cold
Patrick Kane doesn’t look great. Yes, he’s been dealing with injuries, but he hasn’t registered a point since November 13. He even whiffed on scoring in the shootout despite James Reimer being a total sieve. Not sure what’s up with PK88, but they absolutely need more from him if they have any means to push for a postseason spot, even if it is a long shot. (it’s not at this point in time)
The Wings will look to build off of this win in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Won’t be an easy matchup. It never is for Detroit in that building. Should be noted that the Wings play Philly twice in the next couple of weeks, in addition to Toronto, Montreal (two meetings), and St. Louis. These are winnable games! Go do something awesome, Wings!
