Little Caesars Arena continues to be luck for the Detroit Red Wings. The team put together a group of youngsters and veterans that came together to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 Monday night. Both Jimmy Howard and Tom McCollum combined for a 26 save night that increased their winning streak to two games.
Detroit’s first home win inside the newly opened Little Caesars Arena on Saturday allowed them to dominate the Boston Bruins 5-1 with Frans Nielsen making a heavy contribution along with Martin Frk scoring two goals each. With the Red Wings on the right foot, they could begin a new history and forget their time against the Pittsburgh Penguins. So far this preseason, the 2016 champs have gotten a win from the Red Wings but would find things slightly difficult in a new arena they would have to quickly get used to.
The period began with both the Penguins and the Red Wings feeling each other out making their shots count. While many didn’t get recorded on ice, the score remained clear. 12 minutes elapsed before play began to get heavier which Howard playing in his second consecutive game experienced. A turnover in front of him was picked up by Frederik Tiffels who went one on one with Howard trying to get it behind the left leg pad. Tiffels was denied the scoring chance by the Red Wings netminder to keep things at status quo.
Detroit gained their first power play which they put good work quickly. Michael Rasmussen got the loose puck off the boards to come back in front of Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry to pick up his second of the preseason. They continued on with good defense and goaltending from Howard during even strength and 4 on 4. The first big challenge for Detroit arrived during the final minute of play in the first with Pittsburgh on the power play. Detroit made the necessary blocked shots to cut half of their time with the extra man as well as ending the period. The Penguins outshot Detroit 7-5 but were down a goal going into the second.
Detroit caught up with the Penguins showing their strength with plenty of youth in their top lines. A surge of offense hit Detroit to the point of outshooting the Penguins heavily to a point of increasing their score line. Anthony Mantha got his second with a second opportunity on the rebound to make it 2-0 six minutes in. Tomas Tatar got in on the fun with a well-placed backhander getting to the far corner of the net away from him putting the Red Wings in a good spot.
With four left in the period, the Penguins attempted to increase their force of power on the offensive side of the game. They caught a break with a stretch pass that Detroit couldn’t attain giving Scott Wilson a shot that went in to end their shutout. They gained three prior to the period’s end but the margin was large going into the final twenty minutes of play.
Detroit decided to switch out Howard and allow Tom McCollum to take over in net with a two-goal lead hoping to hold his team’s margin. Pittsburgh took their chances to get within reach of the Red Wings but their defense was dealing with them from beginning to end. It was in the final minutes that the Penguins got desperate and pulled Jarry from the goal. A second attempt went into play but the Red Wings denied them any further action and watched as Xavier Ouellet scored one for himself on the empty net to finish the game with another strong showing against their Eastern Conference rivals.
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