Filip Hronek scored unexpectedly at the end of the second period. The wings took a 1 goal lead into the third period. Anaheim quickly scored to tie it up. Anthony Mantha seemed to have regained the lead, but the goal was challenged successfully for an offside. Then, Detroit fell apart. Anaheim scores 2 more in 37 seconds. It was evident that the Red Wings didn’t have the ability to recover from a goal taken away (correct call) and they simply let the game get completely out of hand. U

Credit John Gibson for turning away 31 of 32 shots, for sure. However, that only tells part of the story. Detroit was outshooting Anaheim 22-16 and the Ducks got 13 shots to 10 in the third period. The eye test was, the Ducks were the better team. In fact, for 2 periods in my opinion. They took away time and space from the top line and that’s really all a team needed to do at this point. The beast, LAR-MAN-ZZI, was slain.

On the plus side, most nights 30 shots will give you a fighting chance. Detroit found some good opportunities and strong efforts. The building blocks are still there. The team needs to find that internal switch to work past the lumps.

Anaheim is a much better team than I thought they would be. Getzlaf caused the turnover that led to an early goal and started the Ducks in the right direction. He seems to have some more jump. Full marks for his faceoff prowess and tough 2 way play. Up until that moment, Bertuzzi was having a strong game. He is ferocious on pucks and worked hard all night. Very impressed with his efforts. Mantha was stymied and couldn’t find any space to make plays. Anaheim was ready for him.

I think the lesson will sink in with Detroit, certainly. The alarming lack of any secondary scoring (from forwards) is still of concern. Hronek looks better than he did last year, and rang the pipes 3 times before scoring the only tally for Detroit.

I hope to see some bounce back from the Wings in Montreal, and I’m sure they expect it from themselves.

By Jlaura76

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