Well game one is in the books and now it is off to Carolina in search of win number one on the new season. The Wild looked strong through two periods and into the third controlling most of the territorial play.
But once they tied the game up at 2 just 2:48 into the third, they seemed to take their foot off the gas and Detroit took the play to them for much of the next 10 minutes, scoring twice and sending the crowd home happy with the inaugural win at Little Caesars Arena.
Besides the obvious sag in the Wild team play after they tied the score, the two bad goals allowed by Devan Dubnyk may be more alarming. The first was a simple, yet quick wrister from Henrik Zetterberg, that caught Dubnyk too far back in his crease and not ready. The second was also leaky as Martin Frk let one go from the top of the circle through a partial screen that Dubnyk overplayed.
The Wild appeared to have scored the first goal of the game on two separate occasions, only to be reviewed and nullified. I am not going to say that either should have been a goal or not, but let's just say the first one was a sloppy job first by the officials on the ice letting the play continue by saying "it's loose, play it". Then nullifying it for goaltender interference with no penalty.
Hockey is a game of momentum, always has been and always will be. The better team does not always win, but the team that plays the full 60 minutes always has the better chance. Unfortunately for the Wild, that was the Wings last night.
The Wild went 0 for 4 on the powerplay, but had possession in the Detroit zone for the good majority of that time. There was a couple of near misses, one in particular by Koivu that went right through the goal mouth. But other than those couple the shot selection was not good and the Detroit passive PK survived by just taking away the shooting lanes.
I still believe the Wild's best powerplay has Dumba in the shooting lane. He has the hardest shot on the team and strikes fear in defenders attempting to block it. Dumba also sees the ice very well and is one of the better playmakers which we saw quite a bit of last night as well.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored on his only recorded shot on net, a quick release off a nice pass from Chris Stewart from behind the net. That goal was a microcosm of the Wild game plan getting the puck deep and outworking the Wings down low. Eriksson Ek had another good scoring opportunity in the first period which again he used that quick release, but the puck was deflected wide.
Off to Carolina to regroup and bring a better effort on Saturday.