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Somethin’ Brewin’ in Boston: Red Wings make it close, but fall 6-5 in OT to Bruins.

Posted on by Brenden Purdy

Pregame

Jared Coreau, I nearly forgot about you!  The 6’4” goalie made his season debut tonight, last seeing action against these very same Bruins a lopsided 6-1 contest.  So, ideal conditions for your first start of the season… NOPE!  The Wings are currently mired in a three game slump and haven’t fared well against the B’s of late.  Boston has enjoyed a 15 game dominant slant, going 13-1-1 over that span.  Can the big man in net buck the current trend? I’m not holding my breathe.

The Lineup

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Nyquist

Mantha-Larkin-Abdelkader

Athanasiou-Nielsen-Helm

Frk-Glendening-Witkowski

Ericsson-Daley

DeKeyser-Jensen

Kronwall-Green

In the First…

Well… that didn’t take long. 37 seconds to be exact…  A Nick Holden shot blasts a foot wide of the net and the rebound shoots all the way out to the opposite point where Torey Krug unloads one passed Jared Coreau.  Coreau shaking off some rust in the early goings here.

And again… 15 seconds later… OUCH!  A Jake DeBrusk centering pass is deflected off of the Jonathan Ericsson and behind Coreau.  That’s five goals against on his last six shots faced by the Bruins (thanks Chris Cuthbert).  Things not pretty in Boston awfully early.

Hey, a power play!  A pretty weak call, but, this could be just what the Wings needed.

BOO YA!  How crazy is this one shaking out to be!?!?  2-1, 2:16 in!!

Frans Nielsen notched a powerplay marker off of a great offensize zone steal off of the faceoff loss.  Henrik Zetterberg pick-pockets Riley Nash, feeds Nielsen who whips a quick snapper that finds mesh and it’s a one goal game!

12:07 in and we’re back to square one, WOW.

Mike Green crept in off of the right point and Andreas Athanasiou made a slick move while driving to the slot which drew in defender Zdeno Chara, with Chara dropping to defend AA, he slipped a beauty pass to Green.  The defender zipped one short side and the game is tied.

TIC-TAC-ROBBED

Anton Khudobin, not willing to give up the tap in to Dylan Larkin who was absolutely robbed by Khudobin’s left toe in tight.  Larkin has gone 10-games without a goal.

Let’s return the favour shall we?  With Nick Jensen serving two minutes in the sin bin for holding Krug must’ve figure it was time for his second of the night.  The Bruins d-man crept down low a-la Mike Green did a few minutes before, this time on the opposite side of the ice.  Brad Marchand found him with a spectacular feed, B’s back up, 3-2.

Final Thoughts…

Despite the atrocious first minute to start the game the Red Wings didn’t have a terrible first period.  Although Boston controlled the play more so than the Wings it wasn’t a total barrage.  Detroit pushed back hard at times throughout the period which was nice to see, especially the added efforts of Henrik Zetterberg and Nik Kronwall at both ends of the ice.  The Bruins are simply a better team, but, if the Wings continue this heavy effort throughout the game they should keep things close.

In the Second…

Detroit starts the period with 1:49 of bled off powerplay time from the first.  A David Backes hit that hurt Nielsen, who hasn’t returned to the ice for the Wings.  The almost full PP is squandered, for the most part.  Zetterberg zipped a shot that was deflected in the slot only to bounce off of Justin Abdelkader’s leg and out of harms way.

A size call in front of the Bruins net as Luke Witkowski gives Krug a shove in the back sending the diminutive defender to the ice, and the rugged Wing to the box.

The salt in an open wound… Krug sets up Marchand for a PP-goal-line-one-timer that beats Coreau, chasing him on only 16 shots.

Nice bounce back for the Wings as they distribute the puck well around the zone, albeit to the exterior, still resulting in tough save for Khudobin.

HERE. WE. GO.  Ericsson making David Backes answer for his earlier hit on Nielsen, which has knocked the Danish forward from the game (upper body).  Not much of a tilt, Big E lands a few rights, and Backes wins the toss at the end.

Greener to the box, Wings back to the PK… Uh-Oh..

Dylan Larkin is UNREAL shorthanded.

DID THAT CROSS THE LINE?

NOPE… Well kinda, Abby out there playing some soccer.

The fight has sparked new life into the Wings who have upped their play over the last couple of shifts.  With Brandon Carlo heading to the box for two, the Red Wings are in a good position to capitalize.

Good opportunity for Nyquist back door but the puck just hops on him.

Green one-timer has Khudobin sprawling, and the rebound is left in the crease.  Anthony Mantha goes to stab it in but is denied by the reach of the Bruins netminder.

If it first you don’t succeed…

Mantha sets up Green from down behind the net with a pass to the point, Green’s one-timer  leaves another big rebound in front, this time Big Tony makes NO mistakes.  It’s a 4-3 hockey game gang!

Not for long…

1:19 seconds later your pal, and mine, Brad Marchand squeezes in his second of the night 5-3 B’s.

BIG TONY’S BACKHAND!

What a great job Mantha does of battling and stripping Big Z, walking in on Khudobin, and splitting the goalie for his second, 5-4.

Final Thoughts…

These young Wings just won’t go away after a second period that could’ve sunk this just a few months ago.  The play got fairly chippy as the second wore down, and we could be in for a battle royale of sorts to conclude what has been a wild 9-goal affair thus far.

In the Third…

Surprise, surprise Marchand gets Gus Nyquist to engage in a jousting match before the puck is dropped on the third.  The sparring continued and Marchand was unable to get Nyquist to bite, Wings back to the PP five seconds in.

Great chance for the Wings on a high deflection from Gus off of a Zetterberg shot-pass.

That was the best chance that Detroit could muster after a rather lackluster, and disjointed looking man advantage.

Krug inches away from the hat trick on the B’s sixth power play of the night.  His clapshot ate the post to Jimmy Howard’s right.

Strong bounce back shift by the Wings after killing off the powerplay, Mike Green has a quick turnaround clapper that Khudobin just catches, keeping it out.

Sean Kuraly sticks his butt out tangling up Larkin, and Detroit is back on the powerplay.

WOW!  THAT WAS FLUKEY!

Marty Frk gets a crazy goal off of a great sustained powerplay fore check by the trio of Mantha, Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi.

Final Thoughts…

Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha each deserve giant hero cookies for driving this Wings team into overtime. Then there’s the guy in the crease, HEY JIMMY!  Howard stood tall for the Wings when called upon helping Detroit snag a point in Boston.  But, now it’s time for everyone’s favourite game! 3-ON-3 OVERTIME!

In Overtime…

No surprises for the visitors here, 71 and 39 start up front for Detroit, they’re joined by Danny DeKeyser on the back end.

Larkin blows a tire at the offensive blue line on an attempt to carry the puck in, might’ve been tied up with the linesman.

Torey Krug is stoned by Jimmy Howard in a bid for his hat trick, however, Brad Marchand is “Johnny on the spot” out waiting Howard on the juicy rebound firing a backhander shelf. Marchand’s hat trick goal and fifth point ice the game for Boston, Bruins win 6-5.

Final Thoughts…

A solid effort from the team after starting out extremely lackluster.  But, a tough bounce costs the Wings two points, not a terrible thing if you’re already looking towards June ; ) .

Great effort by the teams youngsters makes watching this transition period of the team so much easier.

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