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Wings play half a game, pay the price to CBJ

March 2, 2021, 9:44 PM ET [20 Comments]
Jeremy Laura
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In the pregame I talked a bit about Detroit just taking the third period off in Chicago. Tonight, against the Blue Jackets, they decided to take a break much earlier. The second period saw them outshot 17 to 4. Detroit only had 20 shots for the entire game.

It’s been clear that Columbus has been underperforming. In a normal year at the 20 ish game mark, there’s plenty of time to right the ship. Now, it’s very close to being halfway through the season. CBJ knew they couldn’t afford to drop a game against one of the worst teams in the league. They took control after the first and didn’t let up.

Cam Atkinson, there’s not much this player doesn’t do. 4 short handed goals on the year, that’s fairly impressive. He ripped a short range slap shot top corner. Pretty much everything was aimed right around there. Good scouting, have the video coach take a bow for sure.

Out of nowhere, at the end of the third, Detroit started buzzing. In the last 15 seconds they were all over the ‘Jackets. Unfortunately it was about 59 minutes too late. A pretty good first, an absentee second, and a part of the third isn’t going to cut it unless you’re the Edmonton Oilers in the 80s. Detroit has to outwork every team they face to have a chance to win. Even then, they will be shut down by superior talent at times. Tonight they didn’t give themselves any opportunity to be in this one.

The plus, the power play struck again for the third straight game. Mantha scored with a beautiful wrist shot, just a few seconds after he launched a hard low slapshot that was steered to the corner. Apart from that, there aren’t many bright spots for this one. Detroit will face Carolina on Thursday. The two teams have almost opposite records. Detroit is 7-15-3 and Carolina is 14-6-1. The one positive? The Svech brothers may finally share some ice. Other than that, buckle up. If Detroit doesn’t play 60 minutes and get stellar goaltending, it could get ugly again.
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