The Red Wings finally snapped their eight game losing skid the other night with a 3-1 win over the Oilers. They’re back at it tonight on the road against the Hurricanes and will square off with a familiar face between the pipes — Petr Mrazek. Since being traded by the Wings in 2018, Mrazek is 1-1-0 with an .889 SV% and 2.86 GAA in three games against his former team.
Dylan Larkin gave the fans a brief scare on Thursday when he missed practice, but Jeff Blashill reassured everyone it was just a maintenance day — he will assume his role on the top line tonight.
No changes from Tuesday night’s lineup — hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — and the recently acquired Brendan Perlini will make his Wings debut on the third line with Taro Hirose and Frans Nielsen.
In an unfortunate move, the Wings elected to send Evgeny Svechnikov back to Grand Rapids earlier this week, which means he won’t get the chance to face his brother, Andre, in this one. The Wings better be mindful of that lacrosse style goal that the younger Svechnikov pulled off recently.
1st Period
Valtteri Filppula and Sebastian Aho faceoff on the opening draw. Justin Abdelkader factors back into the lineup tonight too. Early penalty taken by Erik Haula as he slips a high stick on Hirose at 1:08 of the first period — the Wings are 2-for-6 in their last two games on the man advantage.
Ugly give away by Mike Green at the blueline…good thing Jordan Staal skates like a turtle as Jimmy Howard turns the backhand shot away on the partial breakaway. Andreas Athanasiou continues to be snake bitten as Mrazek comes up with a nice toe save from the slot — nothing going for the Wings on the powerplay.
Dougie Hamilton corrals the pass from Staal and glides untouched through the Wings’ defense, but can’t find the net..crisis averted.
Patrik Nemeth and Nino Niederreiter get tangled up at the blueline — offsetting minors for interference and unsportsmanlike conduct (embellishment) at 5:43. Let’s see if the Wings can take advantage of the open ice with their speed.
Good scoring chance for Green as he takes the pass from Anthony Mantha, curls around the net and can’t quite finish the wrap around on Mrazek.
The play goes back into the Wings’ zone, Jaccob Slavin makes a nice move around Trevor Daley, seemingly loses the puck and it finds (Andrei) Svechnikov’s stick and he makes no mistake. 1-0 canes at 7:45 of the first period. That’s Svechnikov’s fifth goal in his last three games.
The Wings looking for an offensive spark and they nearly get it from Larkin, but Mrazek is equal to the task. The pressure continues as Athanasiou breaks into the Canes’ zone, makes a nice cross crease pass to Filppula who redirects it off the top of Mrazek’s pad and the puck hits the crossbar and manages to stay out. 1-0 Canes at 7:15 of the first period.
The Wings finally break the ice as AA makes a sweet cut back, rifles a pass over to Mantha for the one-timer and it’s 1-1 with 16:52 left in the period.
And, a good goal is spoiled by a sloppy play by Filip Hronek in his own end as he gets called for tripping. Canes powerplay at 17:45. The Wings manage to kill it off before the period ends.
Shots: 10-9 DET
Score: 1-1
2nd Period
The second period doesn’t start the way the Wings wanted it to as Filppula misplays the rebound off Howard and Aho buries it. 2-1 Canes just :27 seconds in. Wait a second, we have a Blashill challenge! Nope. It was deemed no goaltender interference.
As a result, the Canes go on the powerplay and there’s an early chance for Ryan Dzingel as Nemeth blindly plays the puck up the boards, but Dzingel’s shot is stopped with a nice glove save by Howard.
A skirmish in front of the Wings net, Neiderreiter thinks he pushes it past Howard, but the whistle was blown — it will be reviewed. I can tell you, Mickey Redmond does not like this review…get ‘em Mick! And, evidently, it’s called a goal (Mick is not happy still) and it’s 3-1 Canes at 1:48 of the second period.
The Wings get a nice chance shortly thereafter as Larkin spins in the slot and finds Madison Bowey, but Mrazek gets across for the nice save. The play goes back the other way for a 2-on-1 and Aho finds Warren Foegele, he converts the goal. Of course, another Blashill challenge, but this time he’s right! Foegele was offside and the referee emphatically waves it off after the review. Still 3-1 Canes at the 6:07 mark.
Another chance coming for the Wings on the powerplay and they convert as AA finds Mantha again. 3-2 Canes at the 8:02 mark.
It’s short lived however as the Canes come back the other way, Dzingel makes a pretty move and finds Martin Necas. He rips it top shelf on Howard and it’s 4-2 Canes at the 8:28 mark.
Lots of scoring action half way through and at this rate, Jonathan Bernier might need to start stretching on the bench.
It would be nice if AA could break the ice tonight as he’s buzzing with two assists already. Lots of game left.
One disappointing thing so far tonight has been Mike Green’s play. If Blashill is going to sit Dennis Cholowski — and I have not been an advocate of this — then surely Green or even Trevor Daley has to be under consideration to sit in the press box.
It’s getting ugly as Filppula loses his stick in the Wings end and Hamilton gets a golden opportunity, but fires it wide. Aho is there though to bank it off Howard and in at the side of the net. 5-2 Canes at the 11:03 mark and here comes Bernier to replace Howard.
Howard probably has quite the sunburn on the back of his neck at this point.
Bernier is tested early and often as he makes a big save. 5-2 Canes with 14:02 left in the frame.
The Wings get one back at the 16:12 mark as Tyler Bertuzzi makes a nice redirect on the Larkin shot, 5-3 Canes.
Shots: 28-23 CAR
Score: 5-3 CAR
3rd Period
Early draw just :56 seconds in and Staal with the careless high stick on Filppula and it’s now 4-on-4.
A short while later, Brock McGinn puts on a toe drag clinic and snaps one past Bernier on a short-handed tally. 6-3 Canes just 1:49 into the period.
Fourth powerplay of the game coming for the Wings at the 6:30 mark of the period. Mantha already has two tallies on the man advantage, let’s see if he completes the hat trick.
Lots of back and forth action with some scoring opportunities for the Wings. They will go to the powerplay at the 13:38 mark as Bertuzzi gets hooked in front of the Canes goal.
Nothing brewing on the man advantage and we’re in desperation mode for the Wings down three goals late in the third.
What do you know, Green can’t win a puck battle in the neutral zone and Teuvo Teravainen grabs the puck and fires it from center ice on the empty net, 7-3 Canes at the 16:38 mark.
This game sure got out of hand from the early part of the second period for the Wings and they just couldn’t stop the bleeding. The Canes improve to 6-1-0 on home ice this season and Mrazek gets the last laugh on his former team.
Shots: 35-32 CAR
Final Score: 7-3 CAR
