Detroit Red Wings: Two Goal Deficits Seem to Lead to Victories

After trailing by a pair of goals, it seems to signal the alarm to wake up if you are the Detroit Red Wings.

It is almost as if the Detroit Red Wings decide to start to play after they fall behind by two goals.  Last night would serve as the third straight game the club would fall back by a pair, but they wouldn’t go away without providing return fire leading them to a 4-3 victory.

If I am Jeff Blashill I would be encouraging better starts and trying not to fall behind early.  It is a recipe for disaster to keep up this trend but it is somehow a little comical at the same time.  Can’t you just picture the players muttering to themselves or a teammate sitting right beside them, “down two, just where we want them.”

I am going to get this out of the way first.  I’ve been hard on Jonathan Bernier for good reason.  He played awful in LA at the beginning of the season.  He basically single handily lost his first start of the season.  He seems a bit tentative to leave the crease to stop the puck or simple shovel the puck to the corner.  I will say Howard is no better.  They might be the worst puck handling tandem in the entire league.  Every time either of them leaves the net I hold my breath.

More from Octopus Thrower

• Detroit Red Wings forward Carter Mazur injured in Prospect Tournament
• Detroit Red Wings: What does Klim Kostin’s role look like in 2023-24?
• Detroit Red Wings: 3 players who will make biggest impact in first year
• The Detroit Red Wings need Andrew Copp to start fast in 2023-24
• Detroit Red Wings had a busy off-season; but was it enough?

Last night Jonathan Bernier was peppered with pressure and shots and stood tall.  He was the first star even though Mantha scored a pair of goals to the Detroit Red Wings come back victory.  It would be no come back without the work of Bernier in goal.  He kept the Wings close enough early to allow for a come from behind victory.

The Detroit Red Wings don’t really outshoot anyone these days, and it was no different last night in Raleigh, NC.  The Carolina Hurricanes outshot the Wings to a tune of 52-32.

It is safe to say Anthony Mantha played his best game of the season.  Down two heading into the third period, he was able to unleash his firm, wicked wrister twice.  He beat goaltender Scott Darling twice within 3 minutes to launch the Detroit Red Wings back into striking distance.  This is not a misprint; Jeff Blashill played Mantha north of 20 minutes last night.

Andreas Athanasiou remained hot scoring the first goal of the game before the Hurricanes would storm back with three unanswered.  AA and Nielsen remain valuable additions to the lineup after having a great impact the Friday night after both being hampered with various injuries for a handful of games.

Notes;

In addition to Mantha’s big evening, AA had a couple of points, and Nielsen netted an assist along with the shootout winner.  Bernier was a perfect 3 for 3 in the shootout for the Wings.

Blashill leaned on Mike Green, Trevor Daley, and Danny DeKeyser for the win.  The trio all played over 20 minutes.  Greener skated for nearly 25 minutes for the Wings.  Rasmussen who has been somewhat buried on the fourth line with Martin Frk both played less than 10 minutes but created some offensive time for themselves.

Frk notched 4 shots on goal while Ras was active on the body recording 4 hits.  The pairing of Dennis Cholowski and Niklas Kronwall played as the third pair.  They seem to be jiving well, Kronner needs the wheels of Cholowski and Dennis is benefiting from the mentorship of Kronner.  Kronner finished with an even rating, and Cholo was a plus one.

The Wings will look to keep it going at home as they will go Coyote hunting Tuesday night when they take on the Arizona Coyotes.