We all knew that the Red Wings were due to be brought back down to earth after ripping off five wins in a row. That came to fruition this week, and BOY was it ugly!
Detroit was coming off of two full days of rest, so perhaps that plays into this whole thing. They dropped both games on a back-to-back in Buffalo and New York. The Islanders game was particularly awful because of, well, /gestures at everything/… If we have any positives from those games, it’s that Emmitt Finnie is one hell of a hockey player and Jonatan Berggren finally contributing to the score sheet. I remain absolutely floored at Finnie in all honesty. If you would have told me a year ago that Emmitt Finnie would be skating with Dylan Larkin I would have called you a crazy person. But here we are, the rookie’s got four goals and four assists through nine games…and he’s only going to get better.
Okay, so with back-to-back losses the Red Wings hosted the St. Louis Blues Saturday night. At one point, it was all St Louis, who had a four-goal lead at one point. What came next was a gutsy, “give a shit” moment for these Detroit Red Wings. Call it good (stern) coaching, call it luck… Whatever. The Wings doused the Blues with SIX unanswered goals, including two within 27 seconds.. They looked like the team we saw during that five-game win streak. I dare say… this was a gritty win.
That rally against the lowly Blues included a clutch goal from the guy who needed it most. Alex DeBrincat picked up the his first goal of the season after a nightmare stretch of bad bounces for him. His goal was the game-tying tally. We also learned in this game that Simon Edvinsson is the best empty-net goalscorer in the NHL. Talk about another guy who needed a good break.
According to MLive, the Wings practiced hard on Sunday ahead of the road trip. Sounds like Coach McLellan wanted to send a message to his guys after the week they just had.
Looking to the farm, the Griffins earned a big win over the weekend thanks to Sebastian Cossa. The big man pitched a 30-save shutout and Nate Danielson, recently activated, scored a pair of assists. The Griffins are off to a franchise record 5-0 start.
The Red Wings are off four a couple of days before making a stop in St. Louis, then heading out for a west coast swing. They’re gonna play a lot of hockey on a very inconvenient schedule this coming week, for both the team and the fans! (I just can’t do the 10:00 PM games anymore, gang. Eastern time is rough this time of year!)
This week’s Red Wings schedule
Tues, Oct. 28 @ Blues 8:15 PM ET
Thurs, Oct. 30 @ Kings 10:30 PM ET
Fri, Oct. 31 @ Ducks 10:00 PM ET
Sun, Nov. 2 @ Sharks 8:00 PM ET
It sounds like Patrick Kane won’t be ready to play by Tuesday, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. Hopefully he can join the team somewhere along the west coast trip.
