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Role reversal

February 8, 2013, 12:46 AM ET [32 Comments]
Mark Spizzirri
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
After being on the receiving end of a 6-0 drubbing to these same St. Louis Blues at the Scottrade Center less than 3 weeks ago, the Detroit Red Wings returned the favor tonight with an impressive 5-1 beatdown of the Blues.

While most will remember this game as the first NHL start and win for young goaltender Petr Mrazek, the Red Wings strong play from the opening face-off indicated the squad's intent to rectify the two-game slide following last Friday night's emotional 5-3 against St. Louis.

The brightest aspect of the night might have been the Wings finally receiving offensive contributions from their 3rd and 4th lines. To their credit, the 4th line of Drew Miller, Cory Emmerton and Jordin Tootoo has actually played pretty well to start the season. In reality, their responsibility isn't to contribute offense, so the two goals their line provided this evening was gravy. However, most importantly this unit has consistenty been energetic, finished their checks and held their own against other teams bottom six.

The addition of Tomas Tatar to the pairing of Justin Abdelkader and Daniel Cleary paid dividends early on as Cleary scored his 1st goal of the season and the trio had several scoring chances. Tatar appears to be a faster, grittier version of Jiri Hudler. Although Mikael Samuelsson might be ready to return at some point next week from his nagging groin injury, Tatar's effort tonight certainly will not hurt his case in tempting Mike Babcock to keep him as a regular member of the rotation on the 3rd line.

The most common attribute we are slowly but surely seeing with this team, partially due to injuries, but partially due to poor play is the Red Wings incorporating some of the young talent into their roster. With the addition of some of these youngsters comes an energy that often times helps reinvigorate the veteran core group.

The surprise start of Mrazek in goal tonight appeared to do just that for the Red Wings. Kudos to Mike Babcock for taking the chance to give the kid an opportunity against a top-notch opponent, in the hopes of shaking the rest of the roster out of the doldrums they seemed to suffer from against Columbus and Calgary. The Red Wings controlled this game from the outset, finishing their checks on the Blues' rearguards and doing a stellar job keeping the Blues forwards at bay, limiting the quality of their scoring opportunities.

It essentially was a complete role reversal from the opener only 19 days ago.

As for the young Czech goaltender, he certainly looked composed and confident in goal, despite not being tested heavily on the evening. His best save came late in the 1st period with Detroit up 2-0 when he made a nice glove save on Andy McDonald's backhand shot, after getting in tight on Mrazek, after pick-pocketing Wings' defenseman Brian Lashoff in the corner.

Nevertheless, with Jonas Gustavsson still without a timetable to return from a nagging groin issue and Joey MacDonald likely headed to Grand Rapids for a conditioning stint to get some game action since his long hiatus (last game March 14, 2012) from a back injury, it would not surprise to see Mrazek make further appearances to help keep Jimmy Howard relatively fresh, possibly as early as this weekend.

************************************************************************

After an 18-day layoff, congratulations go out to Tom McCollum, who returned to action on Wednesday night and stopped all 28 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season and lead the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 2-0 home win over the Houston Aeros.

Despite the disappointment of not seeing any playing time in his stay with the Wings serving as Jimmy Howard's backup, he should be commended for his improved play this season with the Griffins. He has significantly improved both his goals against average and save percentage in comparison to his first three seasons at the AHL level. He just turned 23 years of age, which is a relative spring chicken when speaking about a goaltender who are often known for maturing a later age then position players.


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