The Red Wings came into Tuesday night on the outside looking in, and despite an absolutely dreadful start to the game, the home team found itself back in the wild card picture when it was all said and done. The headline of this game was none other than Lucas Raymond, who after tonight has eight points in his last five games. He had a pair of goals, both coming at a crucial point for his team.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Wings got the job done. It’s kinda like that old saying — “Everyone loves sausage but no one wants to see how it’s made.”
Yeah, something like that…
1st Period
Not gonna lie, this may have been the worst 20 minutes of hockey the Detroit Red Wings have played all season.
The Blue Jackets had zero problem navigating Detroit’s swiss-cheese-like structure. Columbus isn’t very good, so they gave the Wings plenty of chances to do something, but Detroit wasn’t up for it. Special teams was especially bad for Detroit — both PP units looked downright apathetic in the two chances it got in the first period. A lot of errant passing and zero flow. In fact, Columbus picked up their second goal as Alexandre Texier came storming out of the box on a breakaway.
Before that, Zach Werenski was given a breakaway chance that wound up freezing James Reimer solid. The entire play was a giant fart between Ben Chiarot and Christian Fischer, though, I would say Chiarot deserves most of the blame.
Columbus outshot Detroit 20-6 in the first period. The Blue Jackets had five odd-man rushes and the Wings had zero. Down 2-0 against one of the worst teams in the league, it is beyond gut-check time for the Wings. Brutal.
2nd Period
Oh man, what a difference one period makes.
Detroit carried the middle frame, finally taking advantage of the Columbus Blue Jackets. This was another monster period for 21-year-old Lucas Raymond, who picked up his 23rd goal of the season about three minutes into the period on a tic-tac-toe power-play goal:
Raymond had several shifts where he was clearly the best player on the ice. Not a surprise for anyone, he has been Detroit’s best player as of late. This goal means 58 points on the season for Raymond, which was a career-high.
It took the Wings around 90 seconds to tack on another goal and tie this one up. Moritz Seider threw the puck at the net and it managed to redirect off of Erik Gudbranson’s skate and into the goal.
Hats off the Detroit’s penalty kill — it finally got to work later in the second period. An overall good kill, with some noticeable plays for Simon Edvinsson.
It’s tied 2-2 going into the third period.
3rd Period/OT
Going into the third period, I kinda had the feeling that the next penalty was going to be important. That turned out to be true, after Joe Veleno was called for slashing, which ultimately led to Kiril Marchenko’s goal to make it 3-2. Now Detroit finds itself down again.
There were plenty of chances for the Wings all throughout the third, as noted before, Columbus seemed to be asking for the game-tying goal.. And that was all without Detroit getting another look on the PP.
Down a goal, Detroit pulled James Reimer later than normal. With the game seemingly slipping away despite a lot of pressure from the Wings, who other than the star of the hour Lucas Raymond to force overtime with his 24th goal of the season — just around 12 seconds left in regulation! Great awareness from Raymond to see the puck.
Detroit made quick work of Columbus at three-on-three. Less than a minute, actually. Patrick Kane tucked the puck into the net on a tight angle. After a closer look, it seems like the puck hit Tarasov in the ribcage and rebounded into the net:
FINAL: 4-3, Red Wings.
After that first period, it seemed like the Wings were ready to lay down and let the Blue Jackets walk all over them. A strong second period and brilliant play from Lucas Raymond propelled the Wings and secured two huge points, and put the team back in the second wild card spot.
Sidebar thought: Simon Edvinsson had a decent game. Not good, not great, but decent. He looked a hell of a lot better than some of the other players on the blue line, that’s for sure.
Tonight’s win sets up a MASSIVE game with the New York Islanders at LCA on Thursday, and to make matters a little better, we could see Dylan Larkin return to the lineup that same night. Can they turn it around again?
