The Red Wings success this past weekend was silenced at the hands of the Islanders Tuesday night. New York boosted their way to scoring in each period beating Detroit 3-1 at Joe Louis Arena. The loss ended their own losing streak while snapping Detroit’s two best wins of the season.
Detroit’s two big wins against Pittsburgh and Washington had them in fine shape to return to the Joe and play as a force destined to continue winning. With a day of rest in their favor, taking on the New York Islanders at home again meant that their 5-4 win back on Feb. 3 meant the need for consistency not only against them but against anyone. Mrazek stood between the pipes once more as his defense for Detroit has been on a hot streak with no reason to bring him off. He and the Red Wings would hope for a good start and finish strong before their week-long break.
The teams ran well into the first period with New York pushing ahead with five shots through 13 minutes. Detroit managed to shoot three at goaltender Thomas Greiss in net for the Islanders. The scoring chances were alive and well but no score kept the teams’ dead even with six minutes left on the clock. It didn’t stay that way for New York as they countered on a bad decision by Mrazek behind the net.
As he got hold of the puck, he waited to make a connection with one of his teammates but it got onto the stick of Josh Bailey who easily scored the puck into the net for his 12th. It was a bad goal for Detroit to give up but the momentum stood with the Islanders to press hard in the Red Wings zone before time ran out in the period.
Detroit turned the tables fast as their presence in the Islanders end helped them earn a late power play that paid off. A draw won by Detroit started a quick pass play that finished on the stick of captain Henrik Zetterberg who let on a one timer rip and go five hole on Greiss right before the buzzer. Officials went to check the video to confirm that the puck crossed the goal line before time expired.
Video evidence showed that one tenth of a second remained on the clock for Zetterberg to notch his 14th with Tomas Vanek and Frans Nielsen each gaining a point on the assist. The goal also had Detroit outshooting New York 9-8 with the notion that they were in it to be a competitive group.
The pace moved into the second as the Islanders and Red Wings found time on offense creating good chances with the puck and fired away at their respective nets. New York was again leading the way on shots to the net at the half way point with the Red Wings trailing behind. They caught up at 14 shots apiece but they gave the Islanders their first power play of the night hoping to get ahead. A full press in front of the Detroit net had the puck bouncing around from Calvin De Haan’s shot that went off both Mrazek and Xavier Ouellet handing De Haan his fourth.
Making matters worse, Detroit gave up a four-minute power play for a hi sticking call to Darren Helm. They nearly countered on it with former Islanders Nielsen going on a breakaway only to miss short while. They caught a break killing off a chunk of time to go 4 on 4 for two minutes. As the game returned to even strength, Mrazek was put to work making a diving save with the stick before he got back up to make another diving save away from the net.
It was solid goaltending by the Czech that killed off more time that eventually sent his offense away with a chance to level back before the conclusion of the second. With 1:56 left, Detroit gained a second power play but couldn’t convert on the man advantage with Greiss made two stops before time expired. Detroit once again outshot New York but with the lead in their hands, it made the third period crucial for them to defend their current winning streak.
The Islanders made that difficult 3:42 into the period as a bad move with two Red Wings players nearly colliding with one another lost the puck in the process. It was there that Bailey got hold of the puck getting near the puck before delivering a pass on the backhand. Team leader John Tavares got on the puck for a one timer that went top shelf for his 22nd. The Red Wings immediately challenged the call that Bailey was off sides on the play. Officials didn’t take long to come back with a conclusion that there was no off sides thereby keeping New York up by a pair.
It was the goal that held for quite a while as the Red Wings gained another power play but only saw time wasted with their second straight man advantage being killed. The confidence of victory was slowly rising for New York who sought their second straight road win. Detroit had four minutes left to cover the two-goal spread and with 2:25 left, they pulled Mrazek from the net to give Detroit six men on the attack. Despite all the time and up a man for the fourth time in regulation, the Red Wings couldn’t do much but accept a loss they didn’t want to take.
Everyone on the Detroit side suffered the loss while the Islanders carried their last win at The Joe. Greiss was more than happy to notch another victory to his belt in a one goal allowance while maintaining a save percentage of .963 with 26 saves on the night. While they move ahead with the win, Detroit would break for a week before resuming their season in Vancouver to face the Canucks next Tuesday.
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