Detroit Red Wings Surrender Three Second Period Goals, Lose to the Dallas Stars 5-2

The Detroit Red Wings largely dominated the Dallas Stars in the first and third periods but struggled mightily in the second. Three Dallas goals in that frame proved to be the difference maker.

To conclude their seven game road trip, the Detroit Red Wings strolled into American Airlines Center to face the Stars, where the Wings have won seven straight dating back to the 2010 calendar year. That’s a long time. Both teams lost on Tuesday night, and only one would get back in the win column tonight.

Steve Ott took the game’s opening face off against Tyler Seguin. So that was interesting. Only 3:39 after that face off, however, bearded Benn brother Jordie let the puck fly from the blue line, and it found Lauri Korpikoski’s stick on the way through and beat Petr Mrazek. This is what happens when you fail to get the puck out of your own zone. 1-0 Dallas.

After permitting the Red Wings only nine seconds of power play time Tuesday night, the same officiating crew gave them a full two minute power play at 6:55. I thought about getting up, using the bathroom, and grabbing a snack, figuring I’d be better off not watching the dumpster fire that is the Red Wings power play. And sure enough, they missed a wide open net just seconds into their man advantage. I’m beginning to doubt if they’ll ever score another power play goal again.

A few minutes later, the Stars took another penalty. Say it ain’t so, but Detroit failed to capitalize. Doesn’t it feel great knowing you’re watching a historically bad power play?

The hockey gods were trying their hardest to grant the Red Wings a road power play goal, though. Mere seconds following their second kill, the Stars took a dumb too many men penalty. Then just seven seconds after that, Radek Faksa went off for high sticking Dylan Larkin. C’mon Wings, you’ve been handed a 1:53 5-on-3 on a silver platter. It doesn’t get much easier than this.

Although I couldn’t believe my eyes for a minute or two, the Red Wings indeed scored on that 5-on-3! Gus Nyquist, to boot! IS THIS REAL LIFE?

First road power play goal since October 19. So now that that monkey is off their back, let’s hope we don’t have to witness another 18 road games without a power play goal.

Detroit wasn’t even done scoring after that. As the first period was winding down, Anthony Mantha forced a turnover on the forecheck. Gus Nyquist retrieved the puck and dished it to Henrik Zetterberg from behind the net. The captain finished to give his team their first lead of the contest!

The first period ended with an 11-4 shot advantage for the Red Wings, and by my estimate they out-shot the Stars 9-1 over the final ten or eleven minutes.

Detroit’s penalty kill survived its first test early in the second, but Dallas didn’t take long to tie the game at two off a Tomas Tatar turnover. Everyone thought Radek Faksa scored, but upon closer inspection, Brett Ritchie actually tipped in Faksa’s shot.

The Stars ramped up the pressure after their tying goal. The Wings held up for a time, though things eventually fell apart. It all started with Frans Nielsen opting to try a pass instead of shooting the puck on an offensive rush. The pass failed miserably, and you bet the Stars came down the ice and scored. 3-2 Dallas.

49 seconds later, it went from bad to worse. A shot by Stephen Johns (I’ve never heard of him either) deflected off Jonathan Ericsson’s stick and found its way into the back of the net. 4-2 Dallas. And just like that, a not-so-great period devolved into an awful period. The Stars weren’t quitting either; they kept the Wings on their heels until the horn mercifully ended the second.

I expected Detroit to come out strong in the third after that miserable second. Thankfully they did, even if it didn’t pay off right away. Halfway through the period, Anthony Mantha had back-to-back-to-back shot attempts on Antti Niemi but was denied each time. The Red Wings kept Niemi quite busy over the next few minutes and even wound up going on the power play with 5:38 left. Not a single shot on goal on that man advantage, sadly.

With the net empty, 3:28 to go, Detroit continued trying to cut the deficit, but Niemi continued standing on his head. Dallas wrapped it up nearly two-and-a-half minutes later, with former Red Wing Patrick Eaves potting the empty netter. Stars win 5-2.

Final miscellaneous thoughts:

• The Red Wings out-shot the Stars 16-5 in the third. Niemi stopped all 16 shots. He played outstanding and notches yet another win over the Wings.
• Out of the Stars’ five goals, two of them were tip-ins, one was simply bad puck luck, and one was an empty netter. But this game wound up being another tough loss for Mrazek. No matter how you slice it, four goals on twenty shots isn’t pretty. He played well Tuesday night but played okay tonight. He’s still working to regain his confidence, which is tough when your team has trouble clamping down defensively.
• The kids—Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou—once again played fantastic. It’s just that they encountered a goalie on his game. Keep giving them ice time, Blash.
• Six points on this seven game road trip. Just not good enough at this point in the year.

Yes, the Red Wings finally head back home. Their schedule is not letting up though. Next game is Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, puck drop scheduled for 7:00pm EST.