Devils stay ahead to beat Red Wings

A comeback effort from the Red Wings proved too little too late at the Joe Louis Arena Tuesday. They allowed the New Jersey Devils turnovers on the puck that led to their 4-3 win. Two shorthanded goals and a fight from goaltender Cory Schneider helped them get back on the winning side of the game.

The Red Wings played their first game in almost a week needing to make the second half of the season their best. After a 4-0 loss at home against Toronto, it was Detroit’s mission to play a more well-rounded game where every aspect of their offense improves. Goaltender Jared Coreau was in net for his team with every intention on being at his best. Their power play was another aspect of the need for improvement sitting dead last in the lead where a change could be the solution to finishing ahead of the Devils. New Jersey also comes off the break with a loss last week against Washington hoping that their time off produces the competitive spirit.

They did indeed come out to scare Detroit early with an odd man rush right from the opening faceoff. Danny DeKeyser came just in the nick of time to block the scoring chance but the Devils remained relentless. They eventually got the best of the Red Wings defense with Stefan Noesen scoring 1:28 into the period for his fourth of the season. At the five-minute mark, New Jersey recorded four shots in the first five minutes while Detroit hadn’t shot one on net. They got a chance to get on the board in their first power play after Justin Abdelkader got tripped up.

Instead of leveling things up, their special teams made a huge mistake in the neutral zone losing control of the puck. It was then that Kyle Palmieri made the interception and ran into the Detroit zone scoring while shorthanded for his 12^th. Detroit still had 45 seconds left on the man advantage but the team couldn’t convert on the chance. Through 13 minutes, the Red Wings had only taken two shots on net while the Devils clearly were at a perfect pace on the ice with nine shots having challenged Coreau.

In the final minutes, Detroit added another few shots to their record while holding off the Devils from any further offense to score goals. New Jersey ended the period with a 10-6 run while up a pair on the Red Wings.

They continued being the dominant force in the second taking the shots while holding time with the pucks that left very little for Detroit to work with. The Red Wings only had four shots through nine minutes of play but received the best chance of the net to end the shutout. A second power play came into the works but another Devils penalty allowed Detroit a 5 on 3 for 1:16.

 The Red Wings never produced a shot in their time with the man advantage that sent boos from their own fans after the penalties expired. Detroit tried to make something happen with six minutes left with two good chances in the Devils zone with Dylan Larkin getting a shot at Schneider. The rebound came back for Darren Helm to take a scoring chance but the six foot three netminder made the save.

More attempts came from Detroit with Anthony Mantha almost getting one in on a high shot but Schneider made the save with his shoulder that ricocheted away from the net. It sent Detroit ahead on shots to the net but with time falling off the clock, the Devils two goal lead looked bigger than ever to overcome. Work from Gustav Nyquist allowed the Red Wings to get within one as the Swede made his mark on the puck waiting for assistance. He found it in captain Henrik Zetterberg skating in for the pass where he went in scoring his tenth.

The goal shattered Schneider’s shutout while also ending a scoreless streak at home that lasted 168 minutes. Just when it looked as if a goal would sit between New Jersey and Detroit to end the period, the Devils made a change prior to the horn. Palmieri added his second of the night with 34 ticks on the clock giving his team back a two-goal lead to start the third. Palmieri’s goal allowed New Jersey to edge ahead of Detroit on shots to the net making it very difficult for the Red Wings to make a statement last.

The third was important for the Red Wings to become consistent and play tough against the Devils. Very little shots came from them or New Jersey as it was apparent that they wanted to keep things light for Detroit if it meant keeping their lead. Detroit had another power play come their way but it went sour for a second time. As the Devils sent the puck around the boards Frans Nielsen got on the puck but it made a bounce he didn’t expect. It was then that Adam Henrique took off with the puck scoring the team’s second shorthanded goal and his 13^th of the year.

The Red Wings couldn’t let another power play get out of hand and used the remaining time to produce a goal. Tomas Tatar got himself to a dozen this season with a shot he didn’t expect to get through traffic. The puck found enough room behind Schneider to cut New Jersey’s lead in half. Less than six minutes remained in regulation with two goals still holding the Devils ahead of Detroit.

The Red Wings began to show plenty of effort but the defense from New Jersey was strong enough to clear out the troubles in their own zone. A play in front of the Devils crease saw a battle to get the puck in by the Red Wings. On an attempt from Nick Jensen, he got his stick on a still puck between the five hole of Schneider to get within a goal.

A huge chance to level the game came with 2:16 on the clock as Palmieri took an interference penalty giving Detroit a chance to make good of the man advantage. With 87 seconds left, Detroit put six skaters on ice to get the tying goal behind Schneider. Their attempts didn’t work out leading the Red Wings to use their timeout.

Despite their attempts on net, none fared well to get an open scoring line against the Devils as they proved their worth on defense holding off Detroit’s desperate movements to win the game in regulation. Schneider got an important win for his team on a night where they saw their netminder make 27 stops for a .900 save percentage.

Coreau had a similar night on his hands stopping 20 of 24 but taking on another loss. With time to figure things out before the season got way out of hand, the Red Wings could focus on Friday when they host the New York Islanders.

Svitolina performs well in opening round at Taiwan Open

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Elina Svitolina had a good outing on her first opening of the tournament at the Taiwan Open Tuesday. The world number 13 swept through the first and stayed cool through a challenging second to win in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 against Rodina Evgeniya on centre court.

The number one seed goes into Taiwan with a heavy advantage against the field of 32. The world number 13 matches against the Russian for a second time defeating her once last season in New Haven. The Ukrainian coasted to an easy straight sets win and hoped to achieve another fast start to the opening round. Svitolina pushed well into the season defeating lower ranked opponents while gaining some big ones along the way.

At the start of the competition, Svitolina saw things coasting easily through the first two games. She opened with a double game pointer followed by a break of Rodina on service in the second. The games were flying through as the Russian racked up the unforced errors that in turn gave Svitolina quick points to win them. By the time 15 minutes had elapsed, the 22-year-old Ukrainian had secured double breaks and two holds of serve.

She ran toward a 5-0 leading pulling off a clean love service to serve things up for the bagel. Rodina was on the edge of defeat in the set and didn’t see much improvement. Svitolina reached three set points before a winner locked up the set win for her in 18 minutes.  With a completely dominating performance, the solution came to the Russian’s troubles on court requiring a trainer during the set break. After a temperature check and blood pressure test it was concluded that Rodina could continue on despite serving 31 percent and landing just two of five on the serve and 2 of 11 from her second.

The second set ran much like the first with Svitolina showing her power and dictation on service. The crowd wanted Rodina to get into the match and nearly did so on serve. She pushed the Ukrainian to deuce but achieving the break was challenging. The world number 13 gained it quickly on the break to take another 2-0 lead for her eighth game in a row. The fight occurred on deuce once more with Rodina challenging to win on the break. Despite all her efforts, the highly experienced tennis star kept her composure maintaining a grip of control and the current shutout over the Russian.

The fight from Rodina was alive despite having troubles winning a game. Her problems were silenced just briefly on a hold of serve on deuce. She somehow held off Svitolina through two breaks before capturing her first game of the tournament receiving cheers from the crowd. While a shutout was out of the picture, getting closer to victory was still the mission for Svitolina who got back on serve to take a 4-1 lead with two more wins left.

It was becoming clear that Rodina did not want to give up any more games to her opponent while she had the ball in hand. Knowing that opportunities were becoming less and less, the 27-year-old held serve once more gaining a second victory but saw defeat creep closer thereafter. Svitolina did everything to hold serve putting pressure on Rodina to stay alive in the match. She answered with her first love service in the eighth but came back to facing the tough Ukrainian who wanted to close out the match. She reached 40-0 before a challenged call on a long ball only saw it to be confirmed ending things in 58 minutes for the number one seed.

“I was playing really good today and I don’t feel any pressure even being the top seed in the tournament,” she said during her on court interview. “I’ll try focusing on the next game, that’s what matters.” She’ll await the winner between Lucie Hradecka and Kateryna Kozlova in the second round for Wednesday’s action.

Maple Leafs get second straight shutout blanking Red Wings

The Toronto Maple Leafs continued to have the Red Wings number Wednesday night. In a game full of unanswered goals, Toronto handed goaltender Frederik Andersen a second consecutive shutout in their 4-0 win at Joe Louis Arena. While snapping the Red Wings six game points streak, the carried on with their 12^th on the road gaining two points to regain a spot with the divisional leaders.

Detroit returned home to face Toronto for the first time since losing the Centennial Classic Jan. 1. Since that day, the Maple Leafs have been in contention in the playoff race while the Red Wings started to get things into gear. While it has been slow for the Red Wings, they have been consistent in gaining points despite losing to the Bruins in overtime Tuesday. Gaining back home advantage could help them out against the Leafs who are on an 11 game points streak on the road. With the New Year’s Day defeat still fresh, Detroit would do anything to steal two points away from them by any means.

Things didn’t go well for Detroit through five minutes who saw Toronto take an early lead. Auston Matthews came in on a loose puck firing a beautiful backhander high on the slot to notch his 23^rd of the season. It was just the third shot that Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek had to deal with plenty more action coming his way. The Czech made the appropriate saves against Toronto giving Detroit chances to run offensively with possession.

They only got two shots through 12 minutes as Toronto made turnovers all over the ice to take their runs at the Red Wings net. It came to a halt with eight minutes as Detroit was awarded the game’s first man advantage. Nothing came of it as the Maple Leafs penalty kill had great man coverage on Detroit leaving no room to drive pucks at the Toronto netminder who had a shutout against Calgary the other night.

Before the five-minute mark, Andersen made three stops on Detroit while his team produced a fourth shot on goal unable to increase their goal differential in the period. The Red Wings tried with all their efforts to level the game with Anthony Mantha going for a shot. His attempt pinged off the post coming so close to getting one on the board. Their efforts were in the shape of six shots in the first twenty minutes with Toronto recording seven.

They began the second period with the remainder of a power play but got into trouble by the Red Wings. Andreas Athanasiou and Frans Nielsen went on a shorthanded play but a drive from Nazem Kadri stopped them from completing the pass and a one timer shot. The great show of defense saw them get back the puck and increase their time with the puck in play while holding back Detroit’s chances.

Toronto continued to push hard to get another goal on net in the late stages of the period wanting a bigger grip on the lead while the opportunities were there. Their tenth shot was an amazing moment for them and a really bad one for Detroit. Roman Polak took a shot from the side where his scoring chance went off the skate of Jonathan Ericsson who once again became the victim of an unfortunate redirect that gave the 30-year-old defenseman his third of the season.

While everything went well for Toronto, the Red Wings were struggling on every side of their game unable to play alongside the Maple Leafs who carried a huge amount of leverage going into the third period outshooting Detroit 12-8.

It only got better for Toronto four minutes deep into the third where the Maple Leafs were hot on the mark and with their rushes into the Red Wings zone. James van Riemsdyk added his name to the scoring list with another shot that got the best of Mrazek. The puck bounced off the shoulder of the Czech netminder before flying into the net handing van Riemsdyk his ninth on the year.

Toronto clearly had the edge to win the game and made it count four minutes after their third unanswered with Nikita Soshnikov getting on the scoring binge. His power into the Detroit end saw the right winger line up a shot near the boards rifling one by Mrazek for his second. Andersen gained the assist on the play that had the 23-year-old almost by himself going forward.

They not only kept the score ahead of the Red Wings but shots to the net as well leaving them very little opportunities to score. By the time the horn sounded ending Detroit’s misery, Toronto had pulled off their second consecutive shutout and picked up two points to climb back into the third spot of their division.

Detroit progress being snapped left them with an empty space for the next five days as play for them would resume at the start of next week. With the time off, they would surely need to figure out ways to regain their momentum and bring back their difficult climb to being a competitive team.

Bruins end four game losing streak with OT winner against Red Wings

Boston’s David Pastrnak brought the Red Wings to a full stop with a game winner Tuesday night. The 20-year-old right winger scored the game winner in overtime that gave the Bruins a 4-3 win over Detroit at TD Garden ending a four-game slump and two huge points for their work.

Detroit’s second overtime loss still kept them on a point’s streak but two differences came to play. The Red Wings were without Tomas Vanek and Dylan Larkin due to injuries and faced a division rival once again. Without two of their top scorers on the roster, it leaves Detroit in a vulnerable position as beating the Bruins becomes more important than ever. Despite the fact that Boston sits a point outside the top three of the Atlantic Division, they hold a significant stance against Detroit who are slowly climbing back to contention. With both wanting to gain two important points, the Red Wings would have to step up the pace and bring the heat to Tuukka Rask in net.

Detroit was having trouble right off the faceoff with not a single shot on goal in the opening minutes. It got worse for them as Boston found time with the puck gaining the ability to score first. It was a play that saw Jimmy Hayes making the screen on Detroit goaltender Jared Coreau who was rocked last against the Bruins Jan. 18. The 6’5 forward blocked the 25-year-old goaltender from seeing Kevin Miller lining up for a shot near the boards that gave him his first of the season at 3:39.

The Bruins had already taken ten shots on the Detroit net through the first half of the period showing a huge dominance on home ice. They gained their 12^th before Detroit made a solid response. A turnover in the neutral zone by the Red Wings allowed Andreas Athanasiou to chase the loose puck with Brandon Carlo trying to catch up with him. The fast 22-year-old stayed out front going in quickly on Rask going top shelf for his 11^th on the year. It was the only shot taken for Detroit with more needed from their end.

Boston knew that they opened the door for the Red Wings and wanted to get the lead back quickly. A shot to Coreau got loose sending the Bruins in to fight the puck in behind him. It got loose for another chance but the net became dislodged saving Detroit. While the Bruins continued notching shots, the Red Wings slowly progressed their offense gaining another two shots through five minutes.

They gained more but also had to stop Boston on their opening power play that came in a move by Jonathan Ericsson to stop a breakaway. They nearly had things figured out but in the final thirty seconds of the man advantage, the Bruins got quick near the net with Brad Marchand scoring on a rebound on front for his 18^th and a regain of the lead.

Pastrnak got a second chance at a breakaway in the final seconds going for a backhand on Coreau but the Red Wings goaltender made the important stop to keep them a goal down. The shots on goal ratio was very lopsided seeing Boston taking 21 shots while the Red Wings made seven.

The Red Wings came into the second period with a much better pace than the first. It was contributed by a power play that didn’t see a converted way to tie things up but certainly added power to their lines. Turnovers were still a problem for Detroit who allowed Boston to get some good scoring chances at Coreau. He continued making stops on the surging Bruins who were still running high on shots to the net.

Despite the massive difference in that statistic, the Red Wings remained focused to keep on Boston when it came to scoring. Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg felt that way strongly as he took a hit after delivering the puck to Mike Green. Green wound up firing a shot that deflected off Kevin Miller for his ninth.

They gained their first lead four minutes later on a great read by Tomas Tatar getting possession of a bouncing puck off the boards. He took off waiting for fire away the shot which deflected just enough to get his 11th and the team’s 13^th shot in the game. As the game progressed, the Red Wings reached 15 shots matching half of what Boston had shot so far in the game. The goal differential remained the most important as the period came to a close after 40 minutes.

The third saw Detroit increasing their way of looking better on paper as they did on the scoreboard. The charge of shots showed their will to battle the Bruins while keeping them from leveling the game at three all. Detroit had almost half the period gone but a charge from the Bruins had them attacking a loose puck after it went off Coreau. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get hold of the puck that the Bruins grabbed with Marchand going for a wraparound attempt for his second of the night.

With the game tied once more, every move by the Red Wings and Bruins became so critical. Whether they were on 4 on 4 play or full strength, the teams knew that gaining the upper hand while time remained on the clock was huge to prevent going to overtime. They both played well on defense that had the net minders unwilling to give up anything cheap in the final minutes. At the end of regulation, Boston had shot 47 against Coreau while Detroit got took 24 to Rask.

Three on three play began the five-minute period where Detroit won the faceoff but lost control of the puck. They had to scramble to stop them doing so by cutting off the shooting line.  Boston was outshot by the Red Wings but still showed more strength getting any play going in the Detroit zone. As the teams blew off most of the time, it came to just 60 seconds standing between them and a shootout.

The Bruins used what energy they had left to go for broke. Pastrnak went for a run down the low end shooting the puck from the faceoff circle that brought a halt to proceedings with a goal top shelf.  It was his 20^th of the season and the positive ending that the Bruins had waited so long for. While Rask skated off the ice with 23 saves, his counterpart across the way had plenty to be pleased about.

Coreau stopped a career high 45 against the Bruins in a game that turned out better than the one he faced just a week ago. Though he saw his first loss in some time, the strong Red Wings goaltender would get another shot returning home to face the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday.