Detroit Red Wings: Fourth Line leads the way in 4-2 victory

The Detroit Red Wings looked hungry all night and played their most complete game of the season. The Red Wings notched a 4-2 victory over Nashville and even more impressive, the fourth line got two of the goals.

Robby Fabbri opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season.

Then, it was Adam Erne getting his first goal of the season, taking it from one end of the rink to the other to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead.

So this was my tweet before the game:

And as if on cue, here comes Luke Glendening for his first of the year:

At this point, I wanted the Frans Nielsen goal because why not? The Wings chased Pekke Rinne after the second  and Nashville finally notched a goal when Filip Forsberg banked one off of Marc Staal’s skate and into the net.

Think the Wings will crumble? Nah. Mantha put that fear to rest and shows again why he is such an asset to this team:

Nashville added another in the final minute but it was the Red Wings win to take, 4-2.

A few final thoughts

• • Every facet of the Red Wings game looked improved tonight. This was the hockey I forgot can exist–where it’s entertaining to watch and you anticipate more goals. Rinne certainly had an off night, especially giving up weak shots to Erne and Glendening, but it was just fun to see them play like this.
  • After Nashville scored, the Preds held play for a few minutes after, including a point blank shot that Jonathan Bernier robbed. Mantha would score later. They didn’t crumble and showed that confidence they had earlier in the season. Here’s hoping that continues.
  • There’s concern that the fourth line succeeding as it did will only embolden Blashill to give them more ice time. I don’t disagree with this–it’s a legitimate concern. But I also think Blash is a bright enough guy to realize there was some puck luck there. Then again, he did have the Glendening-Nielsen-Erne power play unit out there at one point….
  • Bernier just keeps playing well and absolutely robbed a sure goal in the waning seconds of the first period. The tandem of Greiss and Bernier is a solid one and will help pick up some more wins this season.

The Red Wings take on Chicago Monday night. Here’s a great post game interview with Glendening courtesy of Fox Sports Detroit: