Let’s face it – December has not been the gift that keeps on giving for the Wings. With an abysmal record that’s seen us slip from 2nd in the division to 5th, a slumping Wild could be just what we need to get our feet back under us.
1st Period
It didn’t take long to know we were in for a long night. Only a few seconds in, a blown tire and a turn-over entering the offensive zone takes two of our guys out of the play and gives Minnesota a 3-on-1. Walman is the lone Red Wing back to defend, and takes one man out of the play for Reimer. Our netminder has help on the way as he faces both remaining Wild players on the left side, but they quickly split up to create an opportunity. Seider and Perron rush back to help, but both take a puck-less Boldy and leave Reimer facing Kaprizov. Kaprizov passes to Boldy despite the coverage, and the only effort made to cover by Perron and Seider is a half-hearted and ineffective stick chop by our #53. The pass connects, Boldy gets his side on the board, and I already want to throw things at the tv. We are 00:38 into the game.
As the game gets rolling and everyone settles in, we finally get some chances back and forth. With Minnesota setting up in our zone, a botched hold-in at our blue-line heads up the ice and the puck finds its way to Alex DeBrincat. Instead of making the play up the boards for a dump-in, he finds Patrick Kane barely on-side and comfortably out of the reach of any Wild defenders. With time and space, Kane picks his spot on Gustavsson and doesn’t miss tying the game up at 1s.
Both teams would trade opportunities for about 10 minutes until Ben Chiarot gets called for hooking, and the Wings go on the PK. The 2-minute disadvantage passes almost entirely uneventfully, and both teams hold on with the remaining 2:30 to take the 1-1 tie into their dressing rooms.
2nd Period
Here we go again. Another defensive miscue to start a period ends up costing the Red Wings. This time, Raymond gets too cute with an ill-timed no-look-drop-pass that gets picked off by Marco Rossi near the Minnesota blue-line. He feeds Ryan Hartman and they gain the offensive zone, and with the Wings defenders spread wide it creates a lopsided set-up. Hartman blows past Raymond and Compher defending, and Reimer makes the save but doesn’t control the rebound. Gostisbehere and Chiarot streak in late, and as Raymond peels out to keep covering Hartman we are left with 3 Wings defending the net (plus Reimer) who have no clue where the puck is. Gostisbehere and Chiarot both collapse on Rossi, who swipes at but misses the rebound, and a late-arriving Marcus Johansson has all the time and space in the world to pick his spot. Fabbri is too far behind the play to make an impact, Raymond is still on Hartman, and the trifecta of Compher, Gostisbehere, and Chiarot are all collapsed around Reimer with our #8 effectively providing a screen for Johansson. Reimer had no chance and it’s 2-1 to start the 2nd.
The Wings buckled down a bit after that, but still couldn’t find the back of the Minnesota net. It wasn’t until the end of the period that any more excitement would come, when Merrill would get called for holding on Jonatan Berggren. Despite being up a man and some decent chances to start the advantage, it amounts to nothing and the period closes.
3rd Period
Finally, it’s the Wings’ turn to start a frame with some pep. After Larkin draws a hooking call, we’re back on the advantage and finally get set up. As Compher takes the puck low along the close boards for a cycle, Minnesota bites and he instead pushes the puck back up to Gostisbehere at the point. He wastes no time passing to the far dot where DeBrincat is set up in his office, and he rips a one-timer. Gustavsson catches part of it on his blocker-side shoulder, but not enough of it to really do anything and the puck finds the twine. It’s a powerplay goal for DeBrincat, and we have a 2-2 tie.
If you’ve watched Red Wings hockey for the last month, you know that only a few minutes of bad play have the ability to completely sink this team. That’s exactly what happened after DeBrincat’s powerplay goal, as a 2:00 span saw 3 goals by Minnesota to give them a 5-2 lead. First, Seider got caught high in the offensive zone and then tried playing the puck instead of taking the body on Johansson. That set up a 3-on-2 where Hartman would convert. Less than a minute later, another uncontested blue-line shot by the Wild makes chaos in front of the net. As Reimer fails to control the rebound, Holl is slow facing the play after the shot and Czarnik gets flat-out bullied to the puck by Marcus Foligno facing a wide-open net.
About 90 seconds after that, Fabbri can’t exit the defensive zone cleanly. He not only coughs up the puck, but also bites it and takes out a back-checking Raymond. With a 2-on-1 and only Gostisbehere back to defend, this was bad news. In all fairness, Ghost does exactly what he’s supposed to do and cuts off the passing lane. But Reimer couldn’t have stopped Marcus Johansson’s shot if it was a beach ball, as the Wild forward sent an easy one blocker side that Reimer was just too slow on. This 2-minute stretch was an absolute dagger.
Trying to shift some momentum our way, Daniel Sprong did his best impression of Larkin’s “FINE I’ll do it myself” and ripped a writer past Gustavsson on a clean carry-in about a minute after the Wild took their 3-goal lead. It was a beaut, just a pure shot that picked the corner and pulled us to within 2.
Unfortunately, that would be all the Wings could muster. Another barely contested shot from the blue-line would make its way to the front of the net where a completely free Kaprizov tipped it past Reimer, and down 6-3 Lalonde elected not to pull Reimer for the extra man. 6-3 final.
Takeaways
Let’s get 2 goals out of the way – blown tires led to two converted opportunities by the Wild. There’s not a lot you can do to plan for or prevent those types of situations, but you do want your goalie to get at least one of those. The 4th goal was 100% on Reimer, and Reimer alone.
But the same things that have cost this team previously cost us again last night. There is snarl that is flat out absent in our own zone that should have prevented at least 1 goal. ANY type of defensive awareness could have prevented at least two others. For a defensive system, we sure looked absolutely amateurish on defense for stretches last night.
This was not a good effort. Period. It’s not like we were defensive stalwarts to start the season, but thru October and November these stretches of in-game collapses seemed fewer and farther between. If this team has any hopes for the playoffs, they need to get back to that kind of hockey and soon.
LGRW
