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Wings Light A Mup, Beat Canucks 5-3

WINGS WIN! WINGS WIN!

Well, well, well, well. The Wings had just put together their first 3 game win streak of the season Friday night against the Devils and decided to turn it into a 4 game win streak. Gustav Nyquist, Niklas Kronwall, Danny DeKeyser, and Pavel Datsyuk (times two) all scored to give the Wings a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Here’s how it happened

First Period:

It was a 2 o’clock start time this afternoon in Detroit, but just 29 seconds into the game most of the lights went out in the arena and we were serenaded with Dancing In The Dark. The players were sent back to their dressing rooms while the power was reinstated. Clearly the Wings were delaying as long as possible to avoid the curse of the Sunday afternoon game.

When the lights came back on and the puck dropped, the Wings were caught snoozing and unprepared and Jimmy Howard had to bail them out. Thankfully they quickly got the “game on” memo and just 3:15 into the period, Niklas Kronwall scored a beautiful goal off a nice wrister that went top corner above Miller’s blocker and the Wings ruined Drew’s brother’s shut out streak. After Kronwall’s goal, the momentum and energy seemed to be infectious and the Wings dominated the Canucks until the halfway mark of the period.Burrows high sticked Howard and gave the Wings their 2nd power play of the period and it took the Wings only 10 seconds to make Burrows sorry. Zetterberg won the faceoff, the puck went back to the points, back to Zetterberg, he passed it perfectly to Nyquist just to Miller’s left and the Goose was Loose again. That was Goose’s 7th PP goal to tie Evgeni Malkin for the league lead.

Second Period:

The Wings outplayed the Canucks in the 1st period, but they got a bit sloppy in the 2nd and the Canucks took full advantage. Just 1:59 into the period Quincey got called for a hooking penalty and 15 seconds later the Canucks got on the board. Late in the period, Pavel Datsytuk decides it’s too easy to just score goals and instead makes Luca Sbisa score an own goal and the Wings closed the period with a 3-1 lead despite being outplayed for most of the period.

Third Period:

The Wings lost a man in the 3rd when it was announced that Justin Abdelkader was out with an upper body injury and wouldn’t play in the 3rd period. It took almost half the period, but we finally saw Jurco get some time with Zetterberg and Datsyuk in Abby’s absence. Hot take: I liked it. The Wings played much better in the 3rd than they did the 2nd, unfortunately the Canucks scored to make 3-2 Wings with seven and a half minutes left in the game. Things started to pucker a little bit, but never fear boys and girls. Danny DeKeyser is here! DeKe quickly responds with a point shot goal that Miller never even saw. Boom, 4-2 Wings with just over six and a half minutes to go. With 4:15 to go the Canucks pulled Ryan Miller and the Wings were hemmed in their own zone and under siege. Howard made several huge saves but it was 6 on 5 and the Wings couldn’t get control or clear the zone and the Canucks scored.The goal was reviewed and ultimately determined to be a good goal, so the kicking motion that Vey used to score wasn’t deemed “distinct” and the game was 4-3 Wings with just over 3 minutes to go. The Nucks almost tied the game with 3:09 left when the puck bounced off the boards behind the net and hit howard in the back of the right leg. Jimmy smartly laid down when he lost the puck (Perhaps on some urging from his teammates?) and the Wings dodged the bullet on that one. It was all canucks for several minutes, and they pulled Ryan Miller again to try to even up the game. Anal sphincters all across Wings nation puckered But wait, what’s that I hear? It’s the sound of Pavel Datsyuk giggling to himself as he scores an empty net goal that Darren Helm chased down and escorted into the net. WINGS WIN 5-3!

Thoughts

  • Jimmy Howard is now tied for 3rd place in wins among all goaltenders in Red Wings history.
  • Danny DeKeyser played in his 100th careen NHL game tonight and that point shot goal will be a nice way for him to remember it.
  • Tomas Jurco added another assist to his points stash today and that makes it 7 points in his last 7 games.
  • Henrik Zetterberg has 6 points in his last 4 games
  • Niklas Kronwall has 4 points in his last 4 games
  • Justin Abdelkader didn’t return for the 3rd period and we’re told he has a shoulder issue from a hit he took from Luca Sbisa late in the 2nd period and is “day-to-day”. Hopefully it’s nothing serious because I”m really liking the look of this healthy Wings team.
  • The Wings now have 33 points and sit 3rd in the Atlantic Division. They’re only 1 point behind 2nd place Montreal with a game in hand, and only 1 point behind 1st place Tampa Bay with the same number of games played. The battle for 1st in the Eastern Conference is so tight, that the Wings are also only 1 point out of 1st in the East!

I’m going to sit back and enjoy this win and how well the Wings are playing. Happy Wings Win Sunday, everyone!

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