Wings sweep western Canada trip with 5-2 win over Calgary (Red Wings)

Red Wings

Wings sweep western Canada trip with 5-2 win over Calgary

By Jeremy Laura

Feb 17, 2023 • 12:03 am

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Game Summary:

If at the beginning of the year someone predicted Detroit would have the 4th best power play on the road, I’m not sure if I would have responded. This trip to Western Canada has seen Bertuzzi take a beating to win puck battles, Larkin making plays, Zadina making plays, and a team that is almost unrecognizable from just a few short years ago.

3 points for Larkin, 3 points for Bert, Berggren scores again. Magnus plays for the first time in a while and stops 33 of 35 shots. The power play and penalty kill look good. Fabbri doesn’t look like someone recovering from another torn ACL. Veleno still coming in with speed and bringing good pressure. Perron gets his 700th career point, Kubalik has a good night. And on they roll.

Tkachuk is sorely missed by Calgary. He makes life miserable on the ice. The blue line is massive and shoot the puck. Kadri makes good plays and is missed in Colorado for sure. But tonight, though the shot differential (particularly in the third) was clearly in Calgary’s favor, Detroit played a tough back to back and there’s music in the locker room.

Zadina is someone I keep an eye on. The league website and bloggers have him as the “poster child… of a missed opportunity. No, he’s not scoring like we’d hoped. However, his vision on the ice is fantastic. Bertuzzi takes an absolute beating to make a play. His skating is still not quite there, but his battle is unmistakeable. This team wants to change perceptions.

Perron has been such a nice pickup for this team. It seems like he makes plays when it doesn’t look like there is a play to be made. Seider continues to look more and more like someone who wants to be nose to nose with the top players. In short, this has been a fun win streak.

If you were ever in construction (one of the better paying summer jobs for college kids) you know that a serious remodel requires building a scaffold. It’s a construction project within a project. In New Boston someone bought a huge dilapidated house and build a beautiful house inside of it. They used the shell to be able to work during adverse conditions. Scaffolding is temporary. No matter how hard it was to build, it was never the goal. With today’s signing it feels like the scaffold stage is starting to turn. We’re starting to look at the house the Steve is building.

That may seem corny, or possibly the worst metaphor you’ll read until my next post, but there is some sort of “reveal… coming on. Larkin was the first 19 year old that we saw players go to management and say, “we need him…. Now we’re seeing 19 and 20 year old kids come in and make a difference. It also looks like the pick of Bertuzzi “far too early in the draft… was a good decision. Holland left a few good pieces with Larkin, Bert, Zadina, Hronek, Berggren and Veleno. It’s just taking time. Rasmussen is a bottom 6 winger, but he’s making an impact.

I don’t know how this season ends. I’ll be honest. It almost feels like the team found a way to come together and be more than just the sum of its parts. It’s still transitional. There’s work to do. But it feels evident that a lot of good work has been done. We’ll see how far this team can go, but in some ways we’ve seen forward motion already. There is a commitment to find a way back to the bracket.

First Period Detroit goals:

Calgary opened up the scoring on a short handed tally at around the 5 minute mark. 1-0 Calgary

With 1 minute and 1 second left Kubalik took a pass from Bertuzzi as the scrappy winger won a board battle and got the puck right on the tape of the eventual scorer. Oesterle with the 2nd assist.

Shots: 8-6 CGY Score: 1-1

Second Period Detroit goals:

Detroit’s 2nd power play went much better a tic-tac-goal with Fabbri getting a pass from Larkin and wristed it in. Perron with 2nd assist (700th career point). 2-1 DET

At 9:03 Calgary tied it back up. 2-2

After killing off a power play, Bertuzzi wins another battle behind the net, gets the puck to Larkin who sends it to Kubalik for a quick snapshot at around 15:20. 3-2 DET

Bertuzzi gets rewarded for all his hard work at 18:43 as Larking took a pass from Perron, got the puck to Fabbri who found Bert in front of the goal. Nice to see Bert rewarded for taking some punishment against the half walls tonight. 4-2 Detroit

Shots: 20-20 Score: 4-2 Detroit. 3 point nights for Larkin and Bert

Third Period Detroit goals:

At 3:55 Suter scores after a slick back and forth with Zadina as he grabbed a drop pass and snaps it for Detroit’s 5th. Chiarot with 2nd assist. 5-2 Detroit

Final Shots: 35-24 Calgary Final Score: 5-2 Detroit

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