Well that was not good.
After falling behind early the Red Wings never managed to complete their comeback and fell to the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 5-3.
The Red Wings were borderline horrible tonight, and the score was closer than the play indicated. After starting the season 3-0, it was a disappointing fourth game for the Red Wings, but an inevitable one. Over the course of an 82 game season there will be a handful of horrid games, and tonight was one of them.
Going forward I would not be too concerned about the Red Wings. This was one game, and the Wings will hopefully be motivated to redeem themselves after tonight’s performance. But tonight was not good.
Here is what happened:
1st Period:
55 seconds. That is all it took for the Red Wings to fall behind. Brock McGinn scored his first goal of the season with Kris Versteeg notching the assist. The period ended up being a dreadful one with the Red Wings being outshot 13 to 5.
2nd Period:
The second period ended up being a better one than the first, but it did not start well.
Three minutes into the period Justin Faulk was able to score a powerplay goal. And just three minutes later Eric Staal scored on a rebound off of Jimmy Howard to extend the Hurricanes lead to 3-0.
After that the Red Wings’ play improved slightly. With six minutes left to play in the period, Henrik Zetterberg set up Gustav Nyquist on a two-on-one against Cam Ward, with Nyquist letting loose a shot and cutting Carolina’s lead by one goal. And one minute later Riley Sheahan would score off a rebound from a Tomas Tatar shot to put the Wings within one goal of the Hurricanes.
3rd Period:
But the comeback was not to last.
Goals by Kris Versteeg and Chris Terry would put the Wings down 5-2 with just under seven minutes left to play in the game.
The Wings did receive a last minute momentum boost after a shot from Dylan Larkin deflected off of Teemu Pulkkinen and into the net, giving Pulkkinen his third goal of the season and Larkin his fourth assist.
The Wings would have a few more chances as the game neared its close, but none that managed to make it into Carolina’s net.
The Wings as a whole played a very poor game tonight. Jimmy Howard was less than stellar, letting in five goals. But, to pin this loss on him is deeply unfair to Jimmy. The Wings were outshot 36-20 by the Hurricanes. Everyone was off of their game.
There is nothing for the Wings to do but turn the page and prepare for the next game. There are 78 games left this season. No need to dwell on this one.
Next up for the Red Wings are the Canadiens tomorrow night in Montreal.
Let’s Go Red Wings!
