The Red Wings and New York Islanders have played some absolute stinkers over the years, due to a combination of Detroit’s rebuild and some off-and-on lean years for New York on top of their identity as a strong defensive team.
This was not one of those nights. After the teams more-or-less traded chances for the first 40 minutes of the games and saw their respective goalies come up big, a wild third period saw the Islanders take a two-goal lead in the opening moments, Detroit storm back to take the lead with three goals in rapid fashion, and the Islanders knot the game on a power play late.
But overtime was all Detroit, and Lucas Raymond ended a wild night at UBS Center in New York with a give-and-go with J.T Compher, giving the Red Wings a 4-3 win and a 6-3-1 record in the opening month of the season.
Game Summary
Event Summary
1st period
One of our pre-game keys involved not letting the low-scoring Islanders slow the game down, and that was definitely not the case from the opening minutes of the game. The first period ended up scoreless, but each team traded a handful of great chances, with Ilya Sorokin and Ville Husso both proving up to the task.
Husso’s two best saves came in the latter half of the period, first with a kick save on an Islanders rebound opportunity and then a big glove save on Casey Cizikas in the closing seconds of the period. Detroit had equally strong chances on Sorokin, including a wide-open Rasmussen look from the faceoff dot that squeaked by Sorokin briefly until he found it, and a David Perron rebound chance later in the frame that came off a broken play where Jake Walman snapped his stick.
The Red Wings will want to tighten up defensively in the second period, but the offensive pressure through 20 minutes was promising.
2nd period
The second period brought much of the same with each team trading chances, including a pair of power plays for Detroit. Despite crossbars from Alex DeBrincat and Compher, the Red Wings left the period still unable to solve Sorokin.
It was the Islanders who capitalized on Detroit’s man advantage in the final minutes of the period, with Cizikas streaking past Moritz Seider, who had been out for a long power-play shift. Cizikas skated across the crease and slid the puck between Husso’s legs, and it just trickled over the line to give New York the 1-0 advantage.
There was an interesting moment during Detroit’s first power play as well, as the officials blew the play dead and issued a 10-minute misconduct to Cal Clutterbuck, who wasn’t even on the ice. The rink mics picked up a possible hint, with someone (likely an official) sharing that it was “just too *bleeping* much.” There was some talk of the NHL issuing a “calm down” notice when it comes to screaming at officials, so between that and Greg Cronin being ejected in Anaheim tonight, that may be something to watch.
Shots were even at 16 for the period, giving Detroit a 28-26 advantage through two periods.
3rd period
The Islanders opened the third with what felt like a backbreaking goal just over a minute into the period. Noah Dobson fired a shot through traffic that may have changed directions just enough from either Brock Nelson and/or Jeff Petry, but either way, eluded Husso to put the home team up by two.
It certainly had that familiar deflating feeling, given the flurry of strong chances Detroit had generated to that point, but the Red Wings finally solved Sorokin in the third period. Daniel Sprong got the Red Wings on the board initially with a beautiful curl and drag around Sebastian Aho that he fired over Sorokin’s glove.
Just under two minutes later, it was Detroit’s turn to get a little puck luck, with Jake Walman ripping a shot past Sorokin that he likely couldn’t pick up due to a couple of Islanders standing in front of him. With half a period remaining, Detroit drew even at two.
And it didn’t take long for the Red Wings to completely flip the script with a third goal in a 3:48 span. This is a great play by Compher to get lost in the offensive zone, circling the net to accept a pinpoint seam pass from Seider that he sent into a virtually empty net. What a look from Seider.
Unfortunately, the Islanders didn’t go away, and with Perron off for a trip, Bo Horvat tied the game back up at three on New York’s power play, one-timing a touch pass from Mathew Barzal from the high slot past Husso. A wild third period, and this game needed extra time.
Overtime
The extra frame was all Red Wings. Sorokin made what could have been a game-stealing stop on DeBrincat, who was stationed at the side of the net and saw his cross-crease one-time attempt stopped by Sorokin’s sliding right leg. I’d never been more sure a puck was going in, with how DeBrincat has been shooting this year.
But that did not come back to haunt the Red Wings, as on the next shift, Compher and Raymond combined for the winner. Compher found iron for the second time on the night, but Raymond helped to recover the puck (he didn’t get an assist, but a nice pinch from Seider to put pressure on Horvat, who was battling a bouncing puck). Raymond sent the puck to Compher, who outwaited a sliding Islanders defender and returned it to Raymond, who made no mistake in sending the team home happy.
Takeaways
- Resiliency. With a Vezina-caliber goalie playing at peak Vezina ability, the two-goal deficit felt like a mountain to climb, especially on the road. But they battled back, and did so… fairly easily, at least in how quickly the goals came once they got the first one. A win like that can be highly motivating in a dressing room. Put together a few of those in a season and a team can start to embrace adversity instead of dreading it. It’s definitely a moment to keep in mind.
- Compher’s best game. It’s early, but that was a really strong game for J.T. Compher. Both of his points showed high hockey IQ, finding a quiet area to get open for his goal, hitting two posts, and showing patience in a high-pressure situation to wait for Raymond to get open on the winner.
The Red Wings are in action next on Thursday, hosting the Florida Panthers at 7:00 p.m. at Little Caesars Arena.
