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The dust needed to settle a bit before this post game reaction went up. The first two periods of last night’s game were frustrating. Robby Fabbri got the Wings to within 1 goal with a power play tally in the second. 4 minutes later Evgeni Malkin put the deficit back to two as the Wings trailed 3-1 heading into the third. Kahun made it 4-1 at 1:38 of the third period and it seemed like the game would just coast to a merciful end. With about 7 minutes left in the third, the Wings came alive. Hronek scored off of a nice rebound from Darren Helm’s shot in what looked to be the most energetic shift of the game for Detroit. Nearly 4 minutes later, Larkin scored on the power play and the deficit was 1. Unfortunately, the team was out of time to make a full comeback and Pittsburgh scored an empty net tally for a final of 5-3.
What can we make of this team? In the pregame post I compared the 5 day layoff to a remastering of a song. You can read that shaky comparison
here
In all honesty, most of the game seemed like a replay of the past 11 losses. Evgeni Malkin was in full beast mode notching a goal and 2 assists. Somehow, Gino plays better when Sid is out of the lineup. That’s not a suggestion of the team somehow being better off missing #87, it’s just an observation that #71 is fully capable to put a team on his shoulders and seems really comfortable in that role. Those two players are, in themselves, an embarrassment of riches. Malkin seemed like a giant among the Lilliputians as he sliced his way through and made ridiculous video game style plays.
Robby Fabbri’s goal had every opportunity to get the team back on track, but it didn’t. In fact, not until a goalie change in the third did the Red Wings seem to get a boost. The passion and energy were refreshing, but perplexing as well. Why on earth can’t these players find that level much sooner in a game?if the team turned in that 10 minute performance for most of a game, it would inspire a great deal of hope that things were headed in the right direction. The phrase “hot and cold” doesn’t seem extreme enough to describe the differences between the first 50 minutes of play and that final 10 minute push.
At the end of the game, Tyler Bertuzzi seemed to be shaken up on a blocked shot trying to protect the empty net. That loss would be another devastating blow to this team. Bertuzzi is the consistent work horse for the Wings. Larkin gives everything he has as well, and for a few moments last night he looked like the player that Scored 30 in the previous season. Dynamic and persistent.
If the team can figure out what happened to “flip the switch” and bottle it, the next stretch of games could look vastly different. Losses will come, but if the effort is there it seems to take some of the sting out of the process. Robby Fabbri is looking more and more like an absolute steal. I can imagine that more than one GM will come calling to see if Yzerman would part with the player as he would be a boost to any contender. It is my sincere hope that we can hang on to #14.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on last night’s game. How did you see the flow, and what stood out in the third period? Thanks to everyone who stops by to read and comment. Keep it coming!
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Epiphone Johnny A 
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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