A game that turned into a shooting spree ended with the Red Wings being more than victorious at the United Center Tuesday. Detroit had Andreas Athanasiou and Tomas Vanek score a pair that finished with an 8-6 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Jimmy Howard was the key to keeping his team ahead at all times making a total of 30 saves against Detroit’s Original Six rival. It was the fifth straight win for the Red Wings who continued their tear with the new talent and the veterans coming up big.
The Red Wings first win on the road during the preseason became a great precedent for mixing up the roster that helped them defeat the Penguins 3-2. Rasmussen and Athanasiou scored their second goals on Sunday that makes coach Jeff Blashill pleased on his new players. With a second test occurring in Chicago, it gives them another opportunity to be successful while the Blackhawks search for a win after they managing to get a victory in Ottawa on Friday. Earning three days off gave them a shot to rest and finish the final three games with the home advantage.
It didn’t start well for them as Tomas Vanek scored 16 seconds into the first period with Athanasiou speeding the puck into the Blackhawks zone to start the attack in front of the net where Cam Ward had a lot in front of him missing on Vanek’s scoring chance. Chicago managed to even the game 1:35 later with Matthew Highmore getting his first with veteran Brent Seabrook driving a 55 footer from the boards that got in front of Howard before going off the stick of the 22-year-old center.
It gave Chicago a boost on pucks to the net of Howard as the Red Wings trailed for the first time in the preseason. After getting back on track, Athanasiou got hold of the puck to skate into the Chicago end where he delivered a wrister behind Ward to gain the lead back at 5:11. They remained in control for a majority of the period but still trailing on shots on goal. At 4:15, the Blackhawks got evened up at two-all with Dominik Kahun scoring is second with captain Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith assisting with an attack that beat Jimmy Howard in net for Detroit. The scored remained that way with Chicago outshooting Detroit 14-9.
Despite being behind on shots and wins from the faceoff, Detroit knew how to get pucks to the net and create chances to make Chicago’s night difficult. They made it 3-2 five minutes in with Darren Helm scoring on a rebound from Anthony Mantha’s scoring chance. Detroit let Chicago back to an even score giving them a power play due to a faceoff violation. Toews didn’t wait long to look for an opportunity which scored him his first of the preseason.
The fight for control of the score continued to go both ways with Detroit gaining back the lead with Mantha getting on the board with a huge assist from Dylan Larkin and the relentless skills of Joe Hicketts who picked up his first assist. Chicago had enough of the frustration and let out their feelings with Chris Kunitz getting into a fight with Justin Abdelkader who gave it right back. Filip Kronek got into the mix with Brandon Manning of the Blackhawks that saw a two men each in the box.
It didn’t faze Detroit from their primary goal which added another to the growing margin with Givani Smith scoring unassisted for his first. The game was slipping away from the Blackhawks who were down three goals due to a well-laid plan that Mantha put into motion. He looked for a shot but made a pass that had Chicago all over the place. It left Ward vulnerable which Athanasiou saw as an open net to score his second of the night.
Detroit woke up the Blackhawks to do something quickly while there was time on the clock and with the “C” on his chest, Toews came up with his second of the night beating Howard to bring the lead down to a pair. Their quest to make it a one-goal gap didn’t come to light but gave them a power play to begin the third with two minutes on the man advantage.
Before the offense could get started, the Blackhawks made a change in between the net where Anton Forsberg played for the final 20 minutes. Chicago got to work on the power play where Patrick Kane got in the Detroit zone sending a cross pass in front of Howard to find Nick Schmaltz for the shot that made it a one-goal lead for the Red Wings. They once again handed the Blackhawks a power play with Nicklas Kronwall getting called for hooking. After they managed to kill off the penalty, Helm put them back on the power play that had Detroit in trouble.
They avoided letting their lead get out of hand with Athanasiou getting control of the puck in the neutral zone before setting up Larkin with a ripper that made it 7-5. Frustrations were back for Chicago as Luke Witkowski laid out Highmore which Brandon Manning didn’t take lightly. He threw down with the Michigan native only to have a number of hits taken to the body before falling on the ice concluding the fight.
When the dust settled, the Red Wings still had the score until it changed again with the 13th goal of the night. It went to Keith who drove a wrist shot that thread its way behind Howard getting a piece of the net. It was his first but not the one that would bring them any closer. Vanek took care of that by scoring on a push towards Forsberg adding his second of the night notching Detroit’s eighth.
It became too much for the Blackhawks to handle as they went forward to taking Forsberg out of the net in the final minutes of regulation. It only made it difficult as Detroit was more than willing to get another easy goal to end the night. Detroit took a total of 25 shots but did more on the hits that led to the three recorded fights in the game.
With another step in the right direction, they’ll march on to Boston in the third to last game before the regular season.
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