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Red Wings Outplayed by Carolina Again, Lose 3-1

By John Fisher

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Final Score:

Red Wings: 1 Hurricanes: 2

Summary In Eight Words Or Less:

Unimpressive by both sides, Carolina pulls it out.

Here’s What Happened:

This was an ugly game of hockey. Both teams skated up and down the ice, shooting the puck wide, turning it over at the blue line, and committing countless other errors that drive fans and coaches crazy.

The first period was scoreless, and went by without a whimper. The Red Wings seemed to have the edge in driving the play, and had some strong shifts from the top line of Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abelkader, and Gustav Nyquist. Petr Mrazek had a few nice saves, but the Hurricanes were never able to amount much of an attack.

The second period started with more of the same, until one errant Carolina pass from deep within their own zone. The pass cleared everyone, but didn’t quite have enough muster to go for icing. A race ensued between Mrazek and the Hurricane’s Viktor Rask. Mrazek rushed out of his net and reached the puck first at the top of the right circle. Looking to make a quick clearing pass, he instantly shot the puck…….right into the body of the oncoming Rask. With Mrazek still out of the next, Rask settled the puck for an easy 1-0 goal.

Jakub Kindl answered with a goal from the blue line a few minutes later.

Yet Ron Hainsey gave the Hurricanes the lead again early in the third with a point shot of his own. Eric Stall finished the scoring with an empty-net goal late in the third.

Neither of these teams really deserved to win this game. The scoreboard was in Carolina’s favor when the final buzzer went, but both teams have much room for improvement. For Detroit, the power play and own-zone turnovers are what cost them this game. The Wings finished 0-2 with the man advantage, and were barely able to even get the puck across the offensive blue line. Even when they dumped it in, and Hurricanes player would simply skate back and grab possession. Which is more than can be said for most of Detroit’s defense. Clearing passes, battles along the boards, and just not being strong on the puck kept the Red Wings pinned in their own zone for long stretches, and directly led to Carolina’s second goal.

This was Detroit’s first game home after a long road trip, so maybe they were still getting their legs back. They better rest up, because they quickly need to turn around this stretch that has seen them lose five of their last six games.

Here’s What’s Up Next:

The Ottawa Senators will visit Detroit this Friday, October 30.

4 Tentacles Up For:

  1. Alexy Marchenko, maybe Detroit’s best defenseman of the game.
  2. Henrik Zetterberg was the Red Wings’ top forward all game, consistently holding the puck and creating chances for his line mates.
  3. Detroit’s Penalty Kill, stopping all three of Carolina’s chances.
  4. Out shooting the opponent, which has been a rarity as of late.

4 Tentacles Down For:

  1. Petr Mrazek’s bad giveaway that led to the first goal. You never want to place all the blame on the goalie, but still……
  2. Tomas Jurco, who seemed to play hot potato with the puck all night long, giving it up the moment he was pressured.
  3. Brendan Smith and Jakub Kindl. Sure Kindl scored Detroit’s only goal, but these two created just as many scoring chances for the Hurricanes as they did for Detroit.
  4. Three games against the same team in the span of a month. Sheesh, glad we got those out-of-the-way and don’t have to play the powerhouse Carolina Hurricanes the rest of the season.

Next: See just how much Henrik Zetterberg means to the Red Wings

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