The Detroit Red Wings Storm back after the Penalty Kill let them down

It was an evenly played game, it had that bend but not break feel to it until Detroit Red Wings forward Jacob de La Rose took a double minor for high sticking in the second period.

The floodgates opened on the Detroit Red Wings in the second period when Jacob de La Rose took a double minor for high sticking. The Rangers would go on to score a pair of power-play goals within a minute of time, making de La Rose feel even more terrible.

It was a goaltending duel until then, Howard really didn’t have much of a chance on either. The first was, of course, a five on three. The Rangers had a lot of puck movement, and Kevin Shattenkirk buried their first goal. The second goal was a point shot that got redirected off of Darren Helm, and Howard was unable to make the quick adjustment. It was Neal Pionk third goal of the season.

Michael Rasmussen was robbed of a goal in the second period. Rasmussen gloved the puck from his own zone into the neutral zone where Gustav Nyquist made a tremendous heads-up play by not playing it. A Rangers player tapped the puck, and Nyquist shoveled it to Rasmussen who broke in and beat King Henrik. The goal would be disallowed because of the hand pass, and although the Rangers player tapped the puck, it was deemed he didn’t have complete possession and control.

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Justin Abdelkader would trim the lead in the third period. It came on a beautiful play by Gus Nyquist who stripped the puck from our old friend Brenden Smith. Smith was carrying the puck out from behind his own goal when Gus lifted his stick and stole the merchandise. He would make a quick cross-crease pass to Abdelkader who buried the puck past Lundqvist.

It wasn’t the most exciting game of all-time by any means, but the pace of play kept everything interesting. Dennis Cholowski, I don’t want to use the word “demoted” recently, but Blashill has dialed back his minutes some over the last four games. He really stood out tonight. The kid plays with his head up and you reaks of confidence. He bounced back tonight playing big minutes.

Jacob de La Rose left the game with an “upper body” injury and would not return. Andreas Athanasiou and Frans Nielsen were both welcoming additions to the lineup, as they both recovered from injuries tonight. They skated along with Gus Nyquist as the second line and had their fair share of scoring opportunities.

Anthansiou scored an absolutely beautiful goal from Frans Nielsen and Nik Kronwall with 2:02 left in the third period to tie the game. Nielsen sprung AA inside the Rangers blueline, and double-A used that high speed to curl in front of the goal from the left circle. He cruised in front of Lundqvist and pulled the puck to his backhand beating the King over his sprawling left pad to knot the game up at 2 and to force overtime.

Dylan Larkin was well, Dylan Larkin. He was really pressing especially late being hard on the forecheck. He didn’t allow the Rangers time to make crisp passes; we were in the zone forcing the Rangers to make quick decisions. More often than not this season Larkin is creating pressure with or without the puck. In years past it wasn’t this way. He also won 17 faceoffs, 17! He seems to be extremely determined this year to shoulder the win and the losses on a team minus Henrik Zetterberg.

Andreas Athanasiou feathered a nifty pass through some traffic with 5 seconds remaining to Dylan Larkin who elevated the game-winning goal over the shoulder of Henrik Lundquivst for the overtime winner. Larkin would record his 7th goal of the season and march the Detroit Red Wings to victory, coming from down 2 goals in back to back games for back to back wins.

It was a good win for the Detroit Red Wings; it would be nice if they would start games with a little bit more intensity. Larkin mentioned after the game that the third period was the best period of hockey the Wings played all season. If they can bridge the gap to the first period a bit better, they would hold their own and not be clawing from behind so often.

This is a bit of a different team. Last year this team would have turtled and not fought back into games, giving them a chance to be victorious. They are having fun, they’ve won five of their last six games and are playing pretty well of late. They will look to keep things going tomorrow night as they travel to Carolina to take on the Hurricanes.

Next. Four Detroit Red Wings who could Help the Vancouver Canucks. dark

Impact Stats;

Dylan Larkin – 1 Goal (GWG), 23:57 TOI, 17 Faceoff’s Won
Andreas Athanasiou – 1 Goal, 1 Assist, plus 2, 15:29 TOI
Justin Abdelkader – 1 Goal, 4 hits, 15:35 TOI
Jimmy Howard – 28 Saves, .933% Save Percentage

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