Detroit Red Wings battle back yet still fall short in Winnipeg

It didn’t take the Winnipeg Jets long to notch the first goal of the game.  Brandon Tanev scored 13 seconds into the contest.  The Detroit Red Wings would battle back tonight but end up falling short 4-2.

It was a game the Detroit Red Wings desperately needed to start strong.  Having lost 8 of their last 9 going into to tonight, it was imperative the team started strong.  Thirteen seconds into the game Tanev found the puck off the end boards and deposited his goods past Jonathan Bernier.

It’s exactly what the Wings couldn’t afford to happen.  The Wings needed to jump out and take it to this Jets team who played yesterday on the road in Minnesota.  While the Jets were in a different country, the Detroit Red Wings had already landed and were well rested.

After allowing that extremely early goal, the Wings rebounded and played well throughout the period.  The top line of Nyquist, Bertuzzi, and Larkin was buzzing around in the offensive zone often with puck possession.

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Although they were unable to score they forced the Jets and wore them out.  Mike Green looked good in his return.  In the first period he had a few scoring chances and at times looked like the only one with confidence to make a tape to tape pass to exit the defensive zone.

The Wings were found hemmed into their own zone much too often tonight.  I know, if it sounds like a broken record that’s because it is.  They struggle mightily at times in their own end, often chasing their opponents and finding themselves running out of energy.

Just about the worst thing that could happen to end a period did.  The Jets were all over the Detroit Red Wings during the final minute of play in the first period and ended up scoring to make it 2-0 with 00.4 left on the clock.  So we gave up the first goal of the game 13 seconds in and the second goal with 4 tenths of a second left.  Unbelievable.

Bryan Little and former Michigan Wolverine Kyle Connor played catch at the left circle in the offensive zone.  Little took a shot toward the goal that appeared to hit the heel of Mike Green’s stick and deflected high blocker side, over Bernier’s shoulder.  That put the Detroit Red Wings in a huge 3-0 hole.

They wouldn’t go away quietly;

The Detroit Red Wings started to battle back from the three-goal deficit in the second period.  Darren Helm started a short-handed rush for the Wings. He found Filip Hronek who saw an opportunity and joined the rush.  It turned into basically a 2 on 0 for the Wings.  Hronek slid a nifty pass to Luke Glendening streaking to the goal with his stick on the ice.  He re-directed the pass into the goal to make it 3-1.

Dennis Cholowski buried a beautiful power-play goal, his 7th goal of the season.  Niklas Kronwall found him in the right-hand circle, in the “one-timer” spot.  He’s a left-handed shot, and the pass was directed to his backhand. He had to pull the puck back and reset it and ripped a beautiful shot top cheese to cut the Jets lead to 3-2.

Andreas Athanasiou had a glorious opportunity to tie this game.  He was in all alone on a breakaway and instead of deking like he often does he decided to shoot.  He was robbed by goaltender Brossoit.  That would have given the Detroit Red Wings all the momentum late in the hockey game, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Conclusion:

Jonathan Bernier played well tonight.  He really didn’t have a chance on any of the 3 Jets goals that beat him.  Kyle Connor would add the fourth goal for the Jets, but it was while the Wings had an extra attacker on the ice trying to tie the game.

The Wings didn’t seem as stationary on the power-play tonight which is good.  At times this season especially when they’ve been in a slump, they don’t move their feet on the power-play.  They just pass it around the box and are lucky to get more than a shot or two total with the man advantage.  Tonight they were moving around on the PP and getting a few good looks outta the slot.

The losses continue to pile up for the Detroit Red Wings.  After tonight they’ve lost 9 of the last 10 games.  Although the results are not following the effort some nights, this team has shown the ability not to curl up and quit.  Other nights the effort is merely embarrassing, tonight that wasn’t the case.  If the effort continues and the drive continues, and the desire not to quit continues it bodes well for these youngsters in the future.

The Detroit Red Wings will be back at it tomorrow in Minnesota.  They will look for a better result against the Wild.  Game time is once again 8 pm EST.