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| Henrik Sedin #33 of the Vancouver Canucks looks on as Jimmy Howard #35 of the Detroit Red Wings covers the puck during their NHL game at Rogers Arena November 6, 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images) |
The Red Wings walked out of Rogers Arena with a newfound winning streak Monday night. Detroit’s composure was alive from start to finish resulting in their 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard did work between the pipes stopping 26 on the night that helped secure another two points for his team.
Detroit’s win Sunday had them prepping for further success but made the decision to start Howard in net. The New York native was away for personal reasons before returning to the team to retake the front position of goaltending. His teammate Petr Mrazek got a huge win earning the shutout against the Flames.
Despite not getting the chance to tend back to back games, he and the Red Wings hoped for a streak to come alive on the road. Vancouver got a big win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday and hoped that with goaltender Jacob Markstrom could keep his goals against average low. He has allowed two in his past five starts making his fourth straight appearance.
Markstrom allowed another 4:02 into the first period with a three-man rush coming his way. Detroit’s third line pushed the puck with a bounce off the boards before Justin Abdelkader got a shot at Markstrom. Frans Nielsen took a try when the puck went off the pads and to Darren Helm who scored his third of the year getting the Red Wings the lead. It led to their push of getting more pucks to the net of Markstrom as he was at his vulnerable moments. Vancouver had some problems getting any scoring chances as Detroit was all over them.
They stopped a Canucks power play with good coverage to shut down their offensive lines.1:40 was left for the Canucks who were finding themselves scoreless through 20 minutes got a great chance to change things up with a late man advantage to start the second period.
While nothing came of their second power play of the game, it brought together some serious strength to get the game leveled up. The Sedin brothers got to work on Howard nearly giving Henrik chances to score his first. The Detroit netminder denied the captain of that honor but still found the opposition weighing heavily on him. The Red Wings attempts to turn the tide worked out midway into the period giving them opportunities to increase the score.
With a second power play in action with six minutes left, the Red Wings had their chance to dig deep and accomplish something. Martin Frk was the one responsible as he went in alone on Markstrom for his 5th of the year and a strong 2-0 margin over Vancouver. Canucks coach Travis Green challenged the call on the ice due to interference he though occurred in front of Markstrom by Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg. Officials reviewed the video and concluded that there was not goaltender interference.
The missed chance took the Canucks out of the running to get one on the board in the final minutes as Detroit finished another 20 minutes dictating the game. They kept ahead of Vancouver on shots to the net with plenty more work in front of them to get a win.
The Canucks felt the same way about that and fought the Red Wings at every chance to end their control on the ice. While it took them quite a bit of time off the clock, Vancouver got it done seven minutes in with a lot of slaps to the puck which gave Daniel Sedin a chance. His shot found a way by Howard for his third bringing an end to the potential back to back shutout for the Red Wings.
The Canucks climb back into the game frustrated Detroit to the point where they got into a scuffle with Vancouver setting up 4 on 4 play. The Canucks were still adamant about making things interesting and a shot from Michael Del Zotto for his first of the season got the game evened up with 10:30 left in regulation.
The situation got tense for the teams as both showed aggression in not only their skating, but the need to score the potential game winner. It came with 74 seconds left with a big move from Tomas Tatar who scored his first in eight games with a wrister to the top shelf corner for his fourth. The Canucks immediately pulled Markstrom from the net as the puck went into the Detroit end putting their mission into motion. Howard made four critical stops in the final seconds that saw them composed to finish out the night with a big victory.
For Tatar, the way of finishing things off gave him another milestone moment this season. The goal secured his 200th career point and won he won’t forget. “It feels awesome, Tatar said to Fox Sports Detroit’s Trevor Thompson. “It took a little while but thank God we won it was a big win for us.”
The Red Wings get the well-deserved day off to travel back to Alberta in order to prepare for their Thursday night match against the Calgary Flames.
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