Red Wings get late 4-2 win over Coyotes

Martin Frk #42 of the Detroit Red Wings shoots to score a power play goal against the Arizona Coyotes during the second period of the NHL game at Gila River Arena on October 12, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Detroit made it another tough night for the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena Thursday night. The Red Wings played a stellar third period to come out with another road victory winning 4-2. Jimmy Howard made another performance between the pipes count with a 33 save night for his third victory.

The Coyotes look for their first win at home and in the season after taking a shellacking to the Las Vegas Golden Knights two day ago. Their 5-2 loss was the second straight against them with the need to impress in their second game at home. Detroit carried good history when playing Arizona winning 14 of 20 there. With the tough loss to the Dallas Stars, Detroit would be more than happy to have Niklas Kronwall back. The veteran defenseman made his season debut after missing the first three games due to a groin injury. His presence would liven up the Detroit squad to hold the Coyotes down and get back to their winning ways.

The momentum seemed to be with the Coyotes to start the game as they were the only team to get a shot on goal. Even after gaining a power play where they shot on Howard twice, Arizona were outshooting Detroit 4-0 through eight minutes of play. Detroit finally got on the board with some possession of the puck but continued to trail Arizona who had Howard in their crosshairs.

A second chance to rush the Detroit netminder came in a power play getting worse with the Red Wings taking another penalty. The Red Wings defense scrambled all over to stop the Coyotes with Howard nearly giving them an easy goal. They killed off the two-man advantage but were still pressed by the Arizona offense. While they got the jump on the puck that they had been searching for, the Red Wings got pucks to the net but scoring chances were much smaller than they wished to have after 20 minutes.

The second started with Arizona switching goaltenders putting Louis Domingue in to replace Antti Ranta who suffered a lower body injury. The Red Wings took that as a sign to pick up the pace on shots to the Coyotes net and get competitive. The one consistency they kept alive was handing power plays to their opponents with a fifth coming in the fifth minute of play.

After four failed conversions on the man advantage, the Coyotes made one count with Derek Stepan initiating the shot. It went off the pads of Howard at a point where Jordan Martinook got a piece of the puck. As it slid closer to the goal line Clayton Keller put a stick on it to score his second of the season and the game lead for his team. It stayed as the lone goal of the game that frustrated the Red Wings to answer somehow.

Though it took quite a bit of time, Detroit settled the score with a shot that went to the net with hope. Mike Green made a perfect setup for Martin Frk who fired a one-timer through traffic and into the net for his third of the year and Green’s seventh point. Just when it looked as if the tide had been turned in favor of the Red Wings, the Coyotes countered with aggression on all fronts. They gained an easy turnover with Keller rifling his second of the night having considerable ease with plenty of room to fire the puck.

Before the period came to an end, the Red Wings refused to go down before the end of the period. With some help from Dylan Larkin, the third year forward hooked up with captain Henrik Zetterberg who put a lot of moves into getting near the puck scoring the tying goal with 42 seconds on the clock. His determination paid off to finish 40 minutes with a statement to the Coyotes that it was going to be a hard night for them to earn their own victory at home. Detroit outshot Arizona 15-10 gaining the overall lead on shots to the net.

With the score even and both teams on a collision course, they got into a scuffle 3:28 into the third period with Nick Jensen getting into it with Lawson Crouse. Jensen had it hard against the six foot four forward who took plenty of hits on Jensen before referees ended the bout. The teams were choosing their chances to shoot on the net which made every moment crucial. Time fell off the clock fast with the score still tied and no change in sight with both Howard and Domingue on top of stopping the puck.

A sixth power play for Arizona went into action in the late stages of the period putting Detroit on notice to be vigilant. Howard had some tense moments but made a huge save blocking the puck from getting behind him letting his team clear it out. As soon as they gained possession, Larkin took off with the puck going coast to coast before passing it to Luke Glendening who was wide open for a shot on the stick side of Domingue for his first of the season. “I saw Max Domi coming at me and usually a defenseman would be backing up because hes a forward and really not knowing what to do, I was able to beat him and kinda just went with it,” Larkin said to Fox Sports Detroit’s Trevor Thompson. “I got some steam on the puck from behind the net and Glendening did a great job putting it home.”

The lead was a huge boost for everyone on the Detroit squad that put the Coyotes in desperate times. They went for the sixth man pulling Domingue from net. It turned out to be a bad idea as Detroit got the puck with Frans Nielsen on point sliding one down into the net for a 4-2 lead. They played out the last minute and 34 seconds with strong defense to secure the victory and improve to 3-1-0.

Detroit couldn’t celebrate for long as they had a back to back to finish the road trip in Las Vegas against the resurgent Golden Knights Friday.