For whatever reason, the NHL still refuses to schedule the home game against the Avalanche on March 26th. The insanity of that 1997 game and the genuine hatred between those two teams could never be replicated, but come on, just give us another opportunity to relive our revenge-filled glory days.
First Period:
Detroit nearly scored in the first 30 seconds as Justin Abdelkader snagged the puck when Gabriel Landeskog mishandled it. Abdelkader got it to Anthony Mantha at the net front, who froze Semyon Varlamov just long enough to pass over to Dylan Larkin at the side of the goal. Larkin just barely missed getting the puck on his stick for what would have been almost a guaranteed goal. A few minutes later, Larkin and Mantha had a two-on-one with Nikita Zadorov back, but couldn’t convert.
Luke Witkowski took a stick up high from Matt Nieto for the first penalty of the game. It’s a good thing the stick blades aren’t as sharp as the skates, or the beard might be looking a little lopsided.
Power play began with Larkin fanning on the puck at the side of the net again. Poor Dylan’s gonna have nightmares. Mike Green nearly couldn’t hold the blue line as he bobbled the puck on a pass. He was able to get the puck back to a waiting Gustav Nyquist, who delivered it across to Mantha for an unscreened shot right in to Varlamov’s chest.
Frans Nielsen got a surprise shot off that also went nowhere and the power play ended with no damage done. It certainly wasn’t the worst power play I’ve ever seen from this team, but there were definitely missed opportunities to go ahead.
Mantha got a mini-breakaway of his own with Mark Alt right on his tail. No real opportunity to get in alone on Varlamov, though. Still no score.
For some reason the referees didn’t bother calling Jonathan Ericsson being taken down by his neck by Ian Cole. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Did you know Danny DeKeyser was playing in his 400th career game tonight? Seems like just last week that we were waiting with bated breath to see if the hometown kid would sign with his favorite team. Now we’re wondering if he’s going to snap out of whatever post-baby funk he’s been in, but we’ve been holding our collective breath so long we’ve bypassed blue and gone through the rest of the rainbow. I think we’re now somewhere in Gritty-orange territory now.
The best chance for Colorado came on a break for Nathan MacKinnon, who got the puck to the right of center and cut across the crease for an attempt at a tap-in through Jonathan Bernier’s five-hole. Bernier got his knees down to close off the space in time.
A now-rare KRONWALLED sighting as Colin Wilson came right through the territory for the classic big hit by 55.
Another high stick on a Detroit defenseman, this time committed by Landeskog on DeKeyser. No teeth were harmed in the process of this penalty. FSD decided to show the first 30 seconds of the power play from the behind-the-net camera for whatever reason. But what do I know, I don’t get paid to come up with ideas like Light the Stick or Pick the Lamp or whatever dumb contest they’re still doing.
Andreas Athanasiou ended up on the receiving end of a Kronwalled-like hit himself with a few minutes left in the period. Really, it was kind of the same hit in reverse, along the same stretch of boards but entering the Colorado zone before being flattened by Zadorov. Ouch.
Oh yeah, the power play went nowhere. Sorry, I was too distracted by bad camera angles and big hits to realize the Red Wings still weren’t doing anything with the man advantage.
Niklas Kronwall must have said something mean to MacKinnon, because Colorado’s #29 got tangled up with Kronwall and then shoved him in the face. Probably reminding him that he may have more points, but Landeskog is still the pretty one on his line.
Another chance in the last minute for the Avs as Matt Calvert passed over to another player whose number I couldn’t see at the side of the net, who then attempted a pass in front of the crease to Patrik Nemeth that got redirected by a sliding Green into Bernier’s pads. Still no score as the buzzer signals the end of the first.
Shots: 13-7 Red Wings
Score: 0-0 tie
Second period:
Oh my god the Ken and Mick bobbleheads talk. Someone get me one immediately, I want to have them narrate my homework:
“Oh, she was going for a high-rising paper but just fell short of the word count!”
“Holy jumpin’, take a look at the size of them textbooks! You could lay a foundation with those things. Back in my day, everything was written on scrolls!”
“Nursing school ain’t no place for a nervous person!”
Colorado started off the second period by slowly inching their way up in shots, with Nieto taking a long cross-ice pass through Mantha’s feet for a scoring chance.
The Avalanche got their first power play opportunity on a holding call by Ericsson. Apparently the key to preventing Colorado’s top line from scoring was to be at even strength with them, because the man advantage tipped the scales enough for them to break the tie. MacKinnon scored six seconds into the power play on a nice passing play off the draw. Mikko Rantanen took a pass from Landeskog at the side of the net and got the puck to MacKinnon in the slot for a quick snap into the net. With that ease of scoring, it’s easy to see how that trio has been racking up points this season.
Jacob de la Rose had a chance at the side of the net just moments later to tie it up, but Varlamov got over just in time to cover the post. Then Ericsson nearly made up for his error as he sent a quick shot towards Varlamov from the high slot, but Abdelkader makes a better door than a screen and blocked the shot with his ankle.
I don’t want to tell anyone how to do their jobs, but it sure seems like the Wings would have more success if they stopped letting the Avs have extended possession in their zone.
Mantha continued the Wings trend of almosts as Varlamov waited behind the net too long, allowing Nyquist to come in and snag the puck when the goalie banked it off the back boards. Goose got it to a waiting Mantha just as Varlamov was sliding back into his crease in time to make the stop.
Henrik Zetterberg made an unexpected comedic relief with bloopers on a short scripted reminder for a special Wingspan episode later this week. Quite possibly the only time I’ve seen Z not be perfect on camera.
MacKinnon with another shot that Bernier tossed away, and then Rantanen was somehow allowed to dance right through a space that three Red Wings should have blocked with bodies or sticks before he faceplanted on the ice. More extended possession in the Wings zone, including a quick shot by Calvert that had “inevitable goal” written all over it. Somehow Bernier was able to stop it through the screen.
Athanasiou nearly got a classic #GreecedLightning breakaway that was foiled by Zadorov. I’m starting to not like that guy, and to make it worse, he’s wearing my favorite number 16. How rude.
Another quick passing play by the Avs from Gabriel Bourque to Alexander Kerfoot that the latter fortunately couldn’t keep control of. I don’t want to be a downer, but eventually one of those is going to convert and I’m still going to be mad about it.
Detroit was finally able to set up for a play of their own in the last minute and a half of the second, but the shot from the point went wide of the net, just in time for Kerfoot to be reminded that ice is slippery and fall down next to his goalie and prevent the Wings from getting to the loose puck on the rebound off the boards.
Shots: 20-19 Avalanche
Score: 1-0 Colorado
Third Period:
It’s time for the Official Red Wings Third Period Comeback! Let’s see if they’re going to allow Colorado to score another goal first, just to up the difficulty level.
Sure seemed like that was the plan, as Tyson Jost got a breakaway opportunity that he ended up missing on the backhand. I guess he’s not in on the
It may not be March, but we did end up with a fight as Tyler Bertuzzi took on Cole after the Avalanche player knocked down Athanasiou hard at center ice. Bertuzzi was able to get a good few uppercuts on Cole, even after losing his helmet. That’s the second hard hit AA’s taken tonight and while there was nothing explicitly dirty about it, he was down on the ice for a few seconds after.
Sara summed it up best:
YOU HIT THE LIGHTNING YOU BEST PREPARE FOR THE THUNDER
— supernintendo chalmers (@helmerroids) December 3, 2018
MacKinnon had yet another chance at the side of the net and then was immediately knocked over by Larkin and faceplanted into Jensen’s leg. He was real mad about it too, just kind of sat there indignantly saying “he hit me in the face!” as if Larkin did it on purpose.
Then it’s a Larkin injury as Nemeth slammed him hard into the boards that Mantha decided to make him pay for. It’s the second fight in the first five minutes of the third, and Mantha landed several punches in defense of his fellow Red Wing. Not ideal timing with Bertuzzi still in the box for his own fight and down a goal, but again, I’m not telling anyone how to do their jobs.
Turns out Athanasiou’s speed wasn’t taken down a notch by the two big hits he’d sustained, as he had another mini-breakaway chance after splitting the Colorado defense, but he sent the puck high and wide like he was wearing 37 instead of 72.
Nyquist got a pass to a waiting Larkin only to have his shot blocked by Erik “Golf Cart” Johnson. Then Larkin took another pass from Nyquist, this time with Goose behind the net, coming through the slot for a shot that was saved by Varlamov.
Larkin planted Rantanen on his back near center ice for a nice change of pace in hits. Later, Cole decided it was a good idea to shove the noticeably taller Mantha because apparently one loss in a fight wasn’t good enough for him. No skirmishes this time, but it was pretty funny to see Mantha glare down at him from his height.
Just as I was typing the above paragraph, more “advanced disputatiousness” broke out near the Red Wings bench after Green hit Calvert into the bench and the Av’s stick swung around and hit Michael Rasmussen in the face. Rasmussen and Luke Glendening ended up grabbing the stick as Calvert tried to rejoin the play, causing Calvert to turn back and shove at the bench to get away. Then Calvert speared Bertuzzi on the bench, causing Bertuzzi to take a swing at Calvert just as Larkin grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him back in for more. Bertuzzi got a couple of punches straight to Calvert’s face as Larkin was holding him before the refs came in. Nyquist got a shove in at Zadorov after his swipe at Green, and Abdelkader went toe-to-toe with another Av up against the boards before everything simmered down.
I’m going to assume the league saw that whole “event” and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some discipline that comes down for that. Calvert had the spear that really kicked off the rest of the nonsense, and ironically Bertuzzi was initially innocent until he got jabbed in the gut. I initially missed the spear, so I was shocked that Larkin would grab someone from the bench like he did. Bertuzzi’s reaction made a lot more sense knowing that there was a spear, but the whole thing was poor behavior by everybody involved.
Dennis Cholowski got away from Johnson to circle the goal and nearly connected on a pass with Athanasiou through the front of the crease that would have been a chance for a tying goal. Alas, AA couldn’t get the puck on his stick.
Empty net goal by Landeskog with 59 seconds left. I think the Official Red Wings Third Period Comeback is officially dead in the water.
Shots: 29-24 Avalanche
Score: 2-0 Colorado
Final Thoughts:
- This game was overall frustrating with not a lot of scoring action and that’s probably my least favorite type of game to watch and write about. The frustration was definitely showing in the Wings as well, and this is definitely a game they didn’t channel that frustration constructively.
- Larkin and Mantha were both trying so hard and while I think Larkin is still excelling in his bid for the captaincy…
- I miss Zetterberg. 🙁
- Jonathan Bernier as his team tries to win a hockey game without scoring goals:/
- coughs:/
the red wings may have lost in the goal column, but they won where it counts; not wearing ugly jerseys
— energy ham (@Whoabot) December 3, 2018
