Are y’all ready for some Monday afternoon hockey? I know I am (guzzles coffee because it’s 7:30 am for me here in the Land Down Under). The Red Wings western road trip will finally come to an end today as they take on the Seattle Kraken on President’s Day. After a rough start to the road trip where they were soundly beaten by two of the best teams the Western Conference has to offer, they’ll be looking to finish on a high note following their 5-0 shutout win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday. They’ll be doing it against a Kraken team that has been nearly as streaky as they have been this season. The Kraken are also returning home from a four-game east coast road trip, ending on a high note with a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins.
The Kraken, who were a playoff team a year ago in part due to their young scoring options, hasn’t really seen that come back this season. Reigning Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers has just 23 points in 49 games following a stellar 57-point rookie year. The Kraken as a team only have five players with at least ten goals this season. Meanwhile, the Red Wings have 11 such players. Their leading goal-scorer is Jared McCann who has 22 this season and he had two points in the Kraken’s 5-4 overtime win over the Red Wings. He’ll be the player to look out for as he has points in all four games since the All-Star Break.
In between the pipes for the Red Wings is Alex Lyon who will look to bounce back after a pair of rough starts in Edmonton and Vancouver. Following the shutout from James Reimer, you’d certainly want to see Lyon return to the net with some inspired play. For the Kraken, they send out Joey Daccord who has been having a fantastic season. He’s third in the NHL with a 2.33 GAA as well as third with his .923 SV%. If anything, he’s been the reason the Kraken haven’t absolutely cratered just one year after the team’s breakout year. We’ll see who comes out in the Battle of the Cephalopods and if the Red Wings came come away with an even split on this west coast road trip.
1st Period
Each team gets a chance early in the game. Following a Daccord turnover behind his own net, David Perron gets a shot at a rebound in front of the net but can’t quite get to it. Meanwhile, the Kraken went the other way as Oliver Bjorkstrand sets up Yanni Gourde who throws a backhand on net that Lyon saves. The Kraken then get a fantastic chance just after the 17-minute mark. Bjorkstrand fires a shot on net and the Kraken get the rebound but Lyon makes a fantastic pad save. Seattle keeps up the pressure for the next minute as Jordan Eberle gets a chance in the slot but Lyon makes another big save.
After an icing call on Seattle, they then get another chance off a rush following the faceoff but once again, Lyon comes up big. He’s already made seven saves in the first five minutes of the game and he looks great. A minute later, the Kraken completely throw away that momentum as Kailer Yamamoto cross-checks Shayne Gostisbehere sending the Red Wings on their first power play of the game after the first media timeout.
The Red Wings get a solid chance early as Daniel Sprong finds Patrick Kane crashing the net. However, Daccord makes a good save and the puck is cleared out. The rest of the power play is mainly struggling to get set up. Each team ends up with two shots on the Red Wings power play and it comes to an end with the game still scoreless. Shortly after, the Kraken get another phenomenal chance off a beautiful tip pass to Eberle backdoor. However, Lyon once again slides over and makes the great save, his tenth of the game in nine minutes. The Red Wings need to wake up quickly.
At the ten-minute mark, the Red Wings finally get their first even-strength chance in about eight minutes and Lucas Raymond gets a great chance in the slot, but he whiffs on the shot. Shortly after, J.T. Compher makes a fantastic pass to Olli Määttä but a fantastic play by Eeli Tolvanen breaks it up on what surely looked like a goal with a diving poke check. Just after this, the puck ends up in the crowd and the game heads to its second media timeout. Shots are 11-3 in favor of Seattle and Detroit has gone nearly ten minutes without an even-strength shot.
The Red Wings do get some offensive zone puck movement coming out of the break and Larkin fires a shot and it either was saved or hit a man in front. Shortly after, Kane makes a gorgeous pass to Alex DeBrincat who misses the net wide. However, the shot finds Kane back on the right wall who hands it off to Mo Seider WHO ONE-TIMES IT AND SCORES!!! SEIDER WITH HIS SEVENTH GOAL OF THE SEASON AND KANE GETS ASSIST 800 TO GIVE DETROIT THE 1-0 LEAD!!!
Well, the Red Wings sure needed that. All the momentum was in favor of Seattle but the first two minutes following the second media timeout were all Detroit and it ended up with a goal. Another minute passes and the game heads to the final media timeout of the first period with the Red Wings up 1-0 and absolutely flying after a rough start. Coming out of the break, the Kraken get going again. About a minute later, a turnover behind the net leads to a wide-open look for Andre Burakovsky who rifles it off the post. A huge missed chance for Seattle after a rough turnover by Seider and Jake Walman.
The Red Wings then send Seattle on the power play. Ben Chiarot cross-checks a man in front of the net and gets called giving the Kraken their first power play of the game. The Kraken get a lot of great puck movement for the first minute of the power play which builds to a backdoor play for Eberle but Lyon makes another beautiful save. The puck gets cleared out but the Kraken get set back up. McCann gets found open in the left circle, has enough time to make himself a cup of coffee, completely turn his body, and rip a slap shot off the post and in. What an absolute snipe and just like that, it’s 1-1 after the power play goal.
Not much happens in the final minute of the period and it comes to a close still tied 1-1. It wasn’t a good period for the Red Wings outside of a three-minute stretch where they were the better team and they did get a goal out of that. They were outshot 15-6 and had just one even-strength shot for the first 11 and a half minutes of the game. Thankfully for them, Alex Lyon played out of his mind making 14 saves and nearly keeping them in the lead heading into the break. The Red Wings are gonna have to step up in the second because as bad as Seattle has been offensively this season, they can’t rely on them failing to score on the chances they’re giving them.
2nd Period
The first couple of minutes pass without much in terms of chances for either team but the Red Wings get a fantastic chance after a beautiful Määttä pass sends Andrew Copp on a breakaway. However, Daccord makes the save to keep this game tied. Immediately after, the Kraken get an even better chance. Brandon Tanev gets a rebound in front and looks like he has an open net but Lyon makes an unbelievable save and this game is still somehow tied at one goal apiece still.
The next few minutes features a couple of shots for both teams but no really good chances and neither netminder is truly challenged. There’s finally a chance for Adam Larsson on a slapshot from the point that Lyon swallows up and sends the game to the first media timeout of the second period. There’s a great chance shortly out of the break for Detroit as Larkin gets a great chance in front but Daccord makes a good save. Just after the ensuing faceoff, the puck gets thrown at the net by Jeff Petry and it’s deflected on net by Compher. The rebound comes to Raymond WHO BURIES THE REBOUND!!! RAYMOND WITH HIS 16TH GOAL OF THE SEASON AND IT’S 2-1 RED WINGS!!!
A huge goal for Detroit. Neither team had grabbed momentum in this period as neither team had really gotten going after the initial chances to start the period. Let’s see if this gets the momentum in the Red Wings favor. There’s a pair of good chances a couple minutes later for Detroit as Christian Fischer and Robby Fabbri each gets good looks but both are saved by Daccord. Just like that, the Red Wings have nine shots in nine minutes to start this period and they’ve figured stuff out.
Each team gets a rush going forward with neither team able to get a shot. However, the Kraken’s rush stays in the Detroit end and a puck battle in front between McCann and Määttä ends with McCann putting the puck through the five-hole of Lyon. Just like that, it’s tied up at 2-2. That’s a bit deflating and a bit frustrating to be honest. Määttä just needed to be on the goalie side of him and he wasn’t and it gave McCann an easy battle to win and tie this game up.
There are a couple of quick chances for either team shortly after this with each goalie making a good save. We end up going to the media timeout with the game still tied 2-2. Immediately out of the media timeout, Eberle ends up with a breakaway but a great defensive play prevents him from getting a clean shot off on Lyon. After a couple of chances go Detroit’s way but don’t amount to much, Seattle gets another great chance with a scrum in front of the net but Lyon once again comes up big and makes the save that sends it to the final media timeout of the period.
Shortly out of the break, a great defensive play and a bad change sends Fischer and Sprong on a two-on-one rush. Fischer has in on the left side and finds Sprong streaking up the right side who fires it AND BEATS DACCORD GLOVE SIDE!!! 3-2 RED WINGS ON SPRONG’S 15TH OF THE YEAR IN HIS RETURN TO SEATTLE!!! A beautiful rush and a great pass by Fischer and the Red Wings have the lead with just a few minutes remaining in the second. Just a really unfortunate change for Seattle played a big part in that goal but a beautiful finish to the rush.
The next couple of minutes pass with no good chances for either side. With 30 seconds remaining in the period, Larkin goes down after Tanev throws a hit on him. Tanev’s helmet caught him right in the mouth and it was absolutely not intentional. He was throwing a clean shoulder to the chest and it was just an unfortunate collision and you hope that Larkin is feeling alright. He’s staying on the bench so it doesn’t appear to be anything other than just being shaken up.
The final 30 seconds pass and the period comes to a close. Shots for the period were 15-13 in favor of Detroit and are now 28-21 in favor of the Kraken for the game. A much better period for the Red Wings and they have the lead to go with it. They’re still allowing too many chances to a bad offensive team but they’ve gotten their offense going against a very good defensive team led by a great goalie. We’ll see if they can keep that going as I’ve seen far too many third periods where the Red Wings get tripled in shots when they have the lead.
3rd Period
It’s a very slow start to the period as neither team gets a chance for the first two and a half minutes or so. It’s Detroit who gets the first good chance and it’s a gorgeous one as Sprong is found on the backdoor. Unfortunately, he whiffs on the shot with so much empty net in front of him and this stays a one-goal game. Shortly after, McCann gets another great chance for Seattle but Lyon makes a great shoulder save to keep the Red Wings lead.
The Red Wings get some more great offensive zone possession but can’t create a great chance. Shortly after, Sprong sparks a rush forward and tries to get the puck back to either Fishcer or Fabbri but the puck finds neither. About a minute later, the Red Wings have a delayed penalty. With the extra man, Gourde finds a pass to Jaden Schwartz, and Lyon was far too out of the net trying to cut off the angle of a potential Gourde shot. He falls and Schwartz has a wide-open net and ties the game at 3-3. It’s truly the definition of live by the sword/die by the sword. Lyon’s aggressiveness is so good until something like this happens and now we have a tie game.
Shortly after, the game goes to the first media timeout of the third period. Coming out, there’s a lot of back and forth but most of the possession is with the Kraken. The Red Wings finally go get some good possession and get a deflection chance in front off a Petry shot but the puck ends up in the netting and we go to the second media timeout. There are just over nine minutes to play in a 3-3 tie and the Red Wings need to figure something out. They have shots in this period but outside of that first chance, none have been threatening.
Out of the break, there’s more possession for the Kraken. The Red Wings are doing a good job of keeping the puck outside to avoid any great chances. Shots are still 9-7 in favor of Detroit but it feels like the Kraken are in control. Tomas Tatar gets a great chance off a backhand for Seattle to threaten Lyon again but the save is made and the Red Wings ice the puck with just over six and a half minutes to play. The Kraken get one final chance that Lyon again gobbles up and sends us to the final media timeout. There’s 5:24 to play and it’s still tied 3-3.
The Red Wings get the next big chance and oh is it close. Patrick Kane gets the puck at the top of the left circle and patiently waits as he glides to the slot and rifles a shot. However, it ends up going off the crossbar and out of play. It was a beautiful chance and now the Red Wings need to keep this up. The two teams go back and forth trying to create something but neither team can create a chance over the next couple of minutes.
Then, with under two minutes to play, Olli Määttä cross-checks McCann headfirst into the boards and gives Seattle the power play for the remainder of regulation or less. Just a stupid penalty at an awful time and now the Red Wings are gonna be fighting for overtime. They limit Seattle during the first minute of the penalty kill, not giving them much of a chance to create anything. They manage to play great zone defense and prevent any good chances and a Kraken offsides with seven seconds left appears to send it to overtime. With a Copp faceoff win, that guarantees it and the Red Wings get the guaranteed one point.
Shots in that period were 12-11 in favor of Seattle bringing the game total to 40-32 for the Kraken. Lyon has been phenomenal making 37 saves but unfortunately, it’s a mistake by him that led to this game being tied and now going into overtime. The Kraken will start the overtime with 16 seconds of power play and we’ll see if the Red Wings can limit them and then create something here afterward.
Overtime
The power play is killed off and we go to a four-on-four. Määttä didn’t have a chance to get off the ice due to where the puck was so the Red Wings had three defensemen on the ice but they’re able to get him off after a rush for themselves. The Red Wings then have another rush led by Raymond and Larkin. Larkin then drops the puck back to Ben Chiarot who crept into the zone AND HE SCORES!!! CHIAROT WINS IT FOR THE RED WINGS IN OVERTIME WITH HIS FOURTH OF THE SEASON!!!
Conclusion
It’s a fantastic ending to the road trip as the Red Wings pick up another huge two points to stay steady in the wild card race. Chiarot with the goal from Larkin and Raymond was the sealer and sent the Red Wings home with an even 2-2 split on the road trip. Shoutout to Alex Lyon who played out of his mind with 38 saves. It was a much-needed bounce-back performance from him after back-to-back rough outings in Edmonton and Vancouver. Outside of the one mistake, he was fantastic.
Some more shoutouts go to Lucas Raymond and Daniel Sprong who were probably the two best forwards for Detroit today. They both looked lively throughout the game, especially in the second and third periods and both ended up with a goal because of it with Raymond also picking up an assist on the game-winner. With that said, things don’t get any easier because the Red Wings next game, while at home, is against a terrifying Colorado Avalanche team. We will see y’all then and enjoy the rest of your President’s Day.
