Gotta catch ’em all… Points that is.
Henrik Lundqvist has pretty much owned the Red Wings this season, but couldn’t matchup against the pressure Detroit put on him today.
The Red Wings secured a huge two points over the Rangers to push them just a little bit further from the teams riding their tails in the standings. Despite the Rangers doing most of the scoring early on, the team simply came back with their resilience. Aggressiveness and puck possession wrote the story for the Wings today. Here is the breakdown of the big win today, by period. Enjoy the win. Let’s dance.
First Period:
I really liked the pace both teams came out with to start. It was very end-to-end back and forth for the first 10 minutes. The Red Wings managed to generate some fantastic chances. Most notable chances were from Dylan Larkin and Darren Helm. Speaking of which, why is Darren Helm decent at most things besides putting the puck in the net? Probably too late to ask this question since he’s gone after this season. Probably not.
Detroit played really great fundamental hockey in this first 20 minutes. They fired off 10 straight shots, and had a 10-2 edge over New York at one point.
The Red Wings continued to create chances, but could not complete the process. Henrik Lundqvist showed why he is one of the best in the game. He coves the net extremely well with his positioning. Also, he is devilishly handsome. Despite dominating the entire period, the Rangers managed to score the first goal. Derek Stepan got himself another goal, on a rough sequence from Danny DeKeyser who got his stick lifted. If you ask me, the chance shouldn’t happen to begin with. Petr Mrazek let off a rebound that hit him right in the chest. You can’t do that.
At the end of 20 minutes, Rangers lead 1-0. Everything else is all Red Wings. Shots are 15-7, 5v5 shot attempts are 23-7. FSD had scoring chances listed as 7-3 in favor of Detroit.
Second Period:
Detroit got an early look on the power-play. About 1:59 worth to be exact. They didn’t score, and Gustav Nyquist took an interference penalty in the closing seconds. The Red Wings managed to kill off most of the penalty, then got another call in their favor in which they didn’t score on.
The Wings weren’t nearly what they were in the first period. The chances weren’t there. Justin Abdelkader looked like crap, Darren Helm continued to play pretty damn good but has absolutely zero offense to his game. He is a potato. A hockey potato. Uncooked, unseasoned. I am not sure this makes sense but I’m going to say it anyways.
The headline of the second period was Niklas Kronwall. He left the game on this awkward play that looks to have jack-knifed his knee. It was later announced that he would not return:
No goals in this period. Just a healthy bit of frustration, and Henrik Lundqvist being a brick wall.
Score still 1-0 in favor of the Rangers, shots are 24-17 in favor of Detroit as well as 5v5 shot attempts, which are 33-18.
Third Period:
The third period started just as the second period ended – Somewhat uneventful, but highlighted by the Red Wings absolute domination in terms of puck possession. Then the offense got going..
Darren Helm, the man had been having himself an incredible game without the offense. He changed that in a fantastic play coming off the bench. Sniped it top-shelf to tie this baby up:
Doesn’t get much prettier than that.
A little controversy followed shortly after. Henrik Lundqvist went down hard after going skate-to-skate with Justin Abdelkader, which drew a call for goaltender interference. I find it funny that they called such a soft penalty after Rick Nash smacked Petr Mrazek on the lid with his stick earlier on in the game. Unfortunately for the Wings, this penalty turned into a goal for the Rangers to put them into the lead.
When all hope was lost, and everything seemed to be crashing down on the Wings once again, they managed to overcome. Brad Richards came up with the clutch game-tying goal against his former team. I suppose this is what you pay guys like this for, right?:
This gave the Red Wings a very valuable point, and a chance to lock up another in overtime.
We head into overtime tied up at two, with the Red Wings outright dominating shots this period (14-4 in the third alone), and 5v5 shot attempts (22-10).
WHOAVERTIME:
I was reminded today how much I love three-on-three overtime.
Dylan Larkin had a breakaway, but was stymied by Lundqvist. To be honest, despite him not scoring, it was the most exciting part of the game. I was ready to jump out of my chair.
The Red Wings did a great job in overtime. The Rangers really didn’t get much of a chance to do anything, and it all led to an amazing play by Pavel Datsyuk to dance around NYR’s defense, and get the puck right on Darren Helm to set him up for his second goal of the game which ended up being the game-winning goal. Wanna see it? You’re gonna have to go here.
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The Rangers owned the game in terms of leading for most of it, but as Jeff Blashill always says, they did well with the “process” and outright destroyed them with pure puck possession. The Red Wings now have five comeback wins this season, which is tied for league-best with Dallas. Detroit held the Rangers to only 25 shots, while they pelted them with 43. It’s a huge two points highlighted by Dylan Larkin and Darren Helm. Larkin didn’t get on the scoresheet, but his speed and willingness to shoot the puck really made a difference for the team.
Nothing more. We have a game tomorrow. I’ll just leave this here…
HIIIIIGHWAY TOOOOOO THE
RANGER ZONE pic.twitter.com/ZgBxLPIdfj
— Kyle WIIM (@KyleWIIM) March 12, 2016
