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Slow Start, outstanding goaltending sees Detroit fall to Winnipeg |
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Summary:
Even with the new team, the starts feel very broken at times. Detroit essentially needs to be bailed out for the first 20 minutes. Winnipeg scored twice on 10 shots and even though they would get two more, those first two were all they needed.
The third period saw Detroit outshooting Winnipeg 16-4 before the third goal went in. You saw the team deflate. Hellebuyck was outstanding and Winnipeg new exactly how to shut down any zone entry Detroit could come up with.
This is not a good day for the organization. It was announced earlier that “District Detroit” has been scrapped and the land sold. Years of empty parking lots, and a lot of questions as to why things had stalled out.
The big positive is that Raymond found the goal he missed in OT as Detroit lost to Seattle the other night. Other than that, Winnipeg was all over the team. Reimer’s performance wasn’t stellar, but he made some big stops. This game felt like a flashback.
To be fair, Debrincat is sick. He gave it his all, but it wasn’t enough. One player I continue to scratch my head on though is Copp. He seems to be on the cusp of making a play and then it goes wrong for him. There is something that is making things difficult for the former Jet. It’s possible the core surgery didn’t clear up some issues, or that mentally he’s just overthinking the game. Regardless, he makes Dzone plays but in the Ozone it feels like every game has missed opportunities.
Detroit now has 2 straight losses and will be facing a Boston team off to a franchise best start on Saturday. For all of their losses, the team is rallying well. It may be that this was a game with a near unbeatable goalie combined with an unreal amount of goals scored in the early going. Either way, Detroit has drawn attention to itself for better or worse. Run and gun isn’t going to fly for an 82 game season. If you saw Winnipeg’s defensive position on just a one goal lead and even more on a two goal lead, teams know what to expect.
The Red Wings will need to dig deep and find a way to overcome a Bruins team that is on fire right now. If tonight was a test of the “bounce back” ability of this team, it wasn’t a great result. No one feels good about this one, and the team needs to start on time. We don’t have a franchise goalie right now that can cover for the kind of lapses that come in a fast paced game. The entire team needs to be in the game for a full 60 minutes, and that has been a repeating theme for the past several years.
First Period:
Good to see Debrincat on the bench. Probably living on pedialyte and bananas. Just 11 seconds in Perron to the box for high sticking. Not a great start. Chiarot lost a skate blade blacking a shot and had to stand still hoping WPG didn’t score. He got a break there. Rasmussen got a breakaway chance and buys Detroit a faceoff in the O zone. Wings kill the advantage and Perron was just a step too slow to get a breakaway.
At 3:49 Holl goes to the box for tripping. This could be a long night. Reimer came up with some big saves and holds the puck as the power play comes to an end.
Solid shift for Detroit around the 7 minute mark but no goals. At 8:31 Jets take a penalty and Detroit gets a shot at the man advantage. Nothing much came of the opportunity as Detroit just isn’t clicking yet.
With 3:32 Ehlers gets the jets on the board with a spin around shot that made Chiarot look completely helpless. 1-0 Jets
This game is starting to have a rebuild feel as with 2:30 left Connor scores. 2-0 jets.
With 1:49 left Detroit has decided Winnipeg should have another shot at the power play as the puck is launched over the glass. Whatever “groove” the team has had seems to be gone or taking a break right now.
Score: 2-0 WPG
Shots: 10-9 WPG
Second Period:
With not much going for Detroit, at 3:18 Larkin took a backhand pass from Seider, shot it on net and Raymond scored on the rebound. 2-1 DET
No more scoring in the middle frame but the team had better looks.
Score: 2-1 WPG
Shots: 21-17 WPG
Third Period:
Detroit seems energized at the start of this, and at 5:34 get another chance at the power play. Wasted time on trying to get the puck to Larkin in the slot. Perimeter play has been much better. Good movement but no goal. Winnipeg nearly added to their lead as the power play ended with a couple of good chances.
The Wings’ play has been more up tempo, but Hellebuyck has been nearly perfect as the Wings struggle to get any real traffic in front of the goalie.
Detroit was having a strong period, but with 9:34 the Jets added to the score 3-1. The team seems to have lost any momentum they were building. That third goal felt like the the nail in this one.
With 2:30 left Detroit pulled the goalie. Just waiting for the empty net goal on this one. With 1:02 left that’s exactly what happens. 4-1 Jets.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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