I spent a good chunk of the Red Wings Saturday matinee researching potential NHL expansion and writing my thoughts on it. Then, I tuned on the game and saw that the Wings were safely ahead by two goals well into the third period.
Then, Matt Boldy scored to make it a 4-3 game with just under seven minutes left in the contest. But whatever, right? The Wild still needed to score again and Detroit seemingly had been playing well defensively all game.
Once the Wild pulled goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, I said, “Yep, this is it. Minnesota’s done. The Wings just have to…” It was around that time when Marcus Foligno scored to tie the game up at three.
Red Wings managed to allow a pair of goals within minutes, before…
You know what happened. Three minutes and 35 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime, Marco Rossi found the net and snagged a comeback win for the Wild, leaving the Red Wings and their fans in stunned silence.
It was a deal-breaker for the Red Wings, who needed a hot start following a 4 Nations Face-Off that saw some outstanding hockey from Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. But the Wings collapsed defensively, allowing 17 shots in the third period after giving up 19 in the first two frames, which ultimately allowed Minnesota to claw back in and steal the game.
Meanwhile, the Wings looked to have gassed out offensively, landing just five shots on goal after snagging 23 in the first 40 minutes. In short, it was an embarrassing performance from a Red Wings team that we expected more of, and now, they have a rare and unfortunate opportunity to do something no NHL team wants.
Wings will be back on National TV on Saturday for the Stadium Series
Now, the Red Wings will find themselves traveling to a hostile environment in Columbus, Ohio, at Ohio Stadium, where they’ll face the Columbus Blue Jackets. Before trekking to C-Bus, Detroit will face Columbus on their home ice on February 27th, but it’s the March 1st outing I’m worried about.
Once again, the Wings will be in the national spotlight, with arguably a larger audience watching than there was today. Yeah, the unfortunate opportunity is that the Red Wings can go out on national television, much like they did today, and lose another heartbreaker.
Let’s hope that’s not on the cards for the Wings, but if they play the final 20 minutes the same way they did today, it will be. But I don’t want to sound too negative, so if that were the case, let’s hope it would serve as a wakeup call for Detroit.
Ideally, their loss on Saturday should have been that wakeup call, and they’ll have three games for the upcoming week to show that it was, starting tonight vs. the Anaheim Ducks. They’ll also get another crack at the Wild when they travel to St. Paul on the 25th, and a couple of wins can build momentum for the upcoming two-game split vs. Columbus.