Before the game started, we got two pieces of bad news for our enjoyment of today’s game.
First, Thomas Vanek will not be playing today.
Second, the game is on NBC.
But let’s put both of those things behind us, and hope for a good game today.
First Period
OK, three things. Steve Ott is in for Thomas Vanek.
Oh boy, Pierre McGuire. This is my typical reaction when they cut to him.
The Minnesota Wild observed a moment of silence for the passing of Mike Ilitch before the game, which was great to see.
The unit of Ott – Glendening – Sheahan is having trouble getting out of their zone. I know, shocking. To be fair, Ott wasn’t responsible for that on this shift.
Last NBC game, the broadcast tracked Larkin’s shifts. Today, they are tracking Zetterberg. One of these days, they’ll realize that they should be tracking AA or Mantha.
Edzo is so excited that Detroit is playing so he has an easy transition to his eighty-five horse racing anecdotes he has in his game notes.
Coreau saves the first good Wild chance, off a one-timer from Koivu in the slot.
I’m missing Vanek in this game, but so far, the line of AA – Helm – Abdelkader has gotten some chances and some offensive zone time. The speed of Helm and AA makes that line a danger for breakaway chances. Of course, we know who we want to get the breakaways…
Larkin has been clearly frustrated the last few games. It has to be tough for him, after seeing so much success last year as a rookie. I think a key for him has to be trying not to do too much. If he plays his game, he’ll get chances.
Edzo and Pierre get their wires crossed, and Pierre spends a minute talking about where Nyquist spent his time as a colt.
Danny DeKeyser may have just made his worst pass of the season, and that’s saying something. He passed it directly to Parise, who led a two on one the other way. Fortunately, it didn’t lead to much of a dangerous chance.
Shots are 4-2 Wild halfway through the first period, although the Columbus official scorer has the shots 24-20 Wild.
Mike Green had a shift to forget. First he fanned on a shot in the offensive zone, then he took a penalty on the backcheck. On the delayed call, Parise set up Zucker for a shot in close, but Coreau kept the score 0-0.
Athanasiou is out on the PK, of which I am a huge fan. Coreau stops Parise on a dangerous chance. Parise hasn’t lived up to his contract, but he is still capable of elite play from time-to-time.
Well, shit. Minnesota scored a PP goal off a great shot–pass from Koivu. Jensen didn’t have inside position on Mikael Granlund, and Granlund directed it past Coreau and off the post. The puck sat on the goal line for a second before Granlund tapped it in.
Even with the goal against, I’m a fan of Jensen on the PK. I want to see the younger players get as much time in all scenarios. If they make mistakes, that’s ok. They need to learn from it.
The officials decide that cross-checking is ok, but high sticking is still a penalty. Jared Spurgeon cross-checked Nyquist twice, Gus responded, but his stick caught the defender in the face. He’s leaking, so it’ll be four minutes.
Oh the replay, that was really bad. Nyquist basically speared him in the face. If he was tossed with a major, I honestly wouldn’t be upset. I mean I would, but not because it was unfair. Maybe Gus didn’t mean it, but if that was against us, we’d be furious.
Here’s two best replays of Nyquist high stick on Spurgeon, full speed and slow reverse angle pic.twitter.com/pN3D4BqLhD
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) February 12, 2017
Stewart took a minor, so it’s only a 2 minutes power play.
But it doesn’t matter. Danny DeKeyser doesn’t block the cross ice pass from Koivu, and Nino Niederreiter scores past a helpless Coreau.
Danny DeKeyser takes a penalty to put us down a man with 10 seconds left. The only question will be if they score the PP goal this period or next period.
Looks like it’ll be next period.
As time expires, the score is 2-0.
Here’s my thoughts on the Nyquist play. The officials should have called the cross-check just before. But, what Nyquist did in response was really bad. It looked like he meant to do what he did. If someone did that to our player, we would be calling for blood.
He should have been ejected, and if the DoPS was consistent and effective, he should get a multi-game suspension.
But.
It’s ridiculous that Marchand only got a fine for slewfooting Kronwall. Other ludicrous plays have gone unpunished. So, it’ll be really wrong if the league chooses to use Nyquist as a scapegoat. We’ll see what happens.
However, watching Mike Milbury talk about this makes me agree with Josh:
If we’re having a discussion of “right” and “wrong” in a hockey game, why does the tool who beat a fan with a shoe get a say?
— Josh WIIM (@JoshLMVP) February 12, 2017
Although maybe Dimitri Filipovic has the right idea:
The league should punish Gus Nyquist by making him play exclusively with Riley Sheehan and Luke Glendening for the rest of the year.
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) February 12, 2017
Current mood is (in response to the ads last game during the tribute to Mr. I.)
Second Period
Coreau comes up huge on Granlund 2 minutes into the period. Jared Coreau has not been the problem today so far.
Dubnyk comes up big on the other end to keep Mantha off the scoreboard. The top line of Detroit is buzzing here.
The NBC team is pronouncing Xavier Ouellet’s name several different ways, none of them 100% correct.
GOAL!!!
Anthony Mantha puts the Wings on the board. Nyquist to the point to Ouellet. Mantha snuck in all alone, and XO put a perfect pass on his stick. Mantha went five hole, and Kyle screamed “THAT’S A SPICY MEATBALL!” OK. I’m just guessing on that last part, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.
Charlie Coyle makes it 3-1, blowing by Nick Jensen and roofing it over Coreau’s glove. The puck was bouncing, so it’s not a terrible play by Jensen, but he could have done better with it.
GOAL!!!
Mantha keeps the puck in. It rims around the boards. The shot from the point from Ouellet was saved by Dubnyk, but the puck was floating in front of him. Zetterberg tipped the puck out of mid-air, sending it fluttering over Dubnyk’s shoulder and into the net. 3-2 Wild.
Tatar sent Athanasiou in for a chance, but Dubnyk turns it aside.
The period ends with the score still 3-2.
If you’d told me we would be 3-2 after finishing the second period, I would have been like this:
Third Period
Tatar and Athanasiou have consecutive shots on Dubnyk to start the third period. NBC is talking about how dominant Mantha has been, which is not surprising to any Red Wings fans.
Coreau completely misplays the puck behind the net, then falls down. Parise scores maybe the easiest goal he will ever score. Really bad play by Coreau.
4-2 Wild.
Game ove…
Wait, what?
GOAL!!!
Jensen shoots the puck from the point. Athanasiou gets the rebound off the boards and puts it by Dubnyk. Nice play by AA, and it’s 4-3.
Hey guys, remember when people wrote that we should protect Jared Coreau in the expansion draft over Petr Mrazek? We totally shouldn’t.
He lets in a horrible goal. Horrible.
Christian Folin scores from a really sharp angle, and Coreau should not be in this game anymore. It’s not like he can’t be a good NHL goalie, but he isn’t right now.
Also, NBC is really rubbing it in right now.
Zucker dives with Ouellet’s stick nearby, so it’s a penalty.
This is Coreau right now:
Jared Coreau has a really bad habit of flailing around when things go badly. He does it again as he takes himself completely out of the play, allowing Parise to tip the puck out of the air and into the net for a 6-3 lead.
The fact that Blashill has not gone to Mrazek is another data point towards Prashanth’s “stealth tank” theory.
I don’t have a gif, but Blashill looked furious (rightfully so) after the last few goals. Then he stopped, took a deep breath, said “serenity now” followed by “What would Prashanth do?” And he left Mrazek on the bench.
Wings have a power play with five minutes left. It’s our first power play of the game. Maybe we could make it closer. Maybe not.
We didn’t.
Stuff happened during the last three minutes. Ott tried to kill a guy.
We lost.
This is how the second half of writing this recap felt:
