 |
Jon Merrill #24, Robby Fabbri #14, Danny DeKeyser #65 and Filip Zadina #11 of the Detroit Red Wings congratulate teammate Bobby Ryan #54 after he scores his first goal during an NHL game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Little Caesars Arena on January 16, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images) |
Detroit’s home-opening defeat by the Hurricanes didn’t pan out too bad but shots on goal were much lower than their opponents. Head coach Jeff Blashill chose to give Griess the night off and put in Bernier who spent a lot of time between the pipes. With a lot of rust shaken off, the Red Wings would look to increase their puck possession and go big for the lead. Ryan who is a big NHL veteran who is a native of Michigan entered the lineup for the first time in a winged wheel jersey hoping that his presence and skill could liven up the offense.
Through the first six minutes, Carolina had two shots while Detroit hadn’t gotten on the board. They nearly net one in at 7:45 when Bernier made a save and fought off further chances from the Hurricanes. Filip Hronek got into position as a goaltender, making a save or two before the whistle was blown to stop play. Just when they thought they were out of trouble, a penalty by Danny DeKeyser gave Carolina a power play.
The Red Wings PK did well to kill off a lot of time and nearly had a short hander with Vladislav Namestnikov going one on one with Petr Mrazek. The former Detroit netminder made the stop against the Russian and watched as Detroit suffered another penalty. They managed to kill off a second straight and later earn their shot on the man advantage with an interference call to Nino Niederreiter. Detroit increased their shots at Mrazek but didn’t strike first on the scoreboard. Despite a missed shot, the Red Wings got physical, battled for the puck, and won 60 percent of faceoff draws.
With the sign of improvement, the Red Wings continued their battles on the ice and within three minutes of the second period, the fight paid off. Filip Zadina picked the pocket of Carolina forward Warren Foegele. With the puck behind the Hurricanes net, he found Ryan open for the one-timer and the Red Wings first score of 2021. It was the key to holding Carolina through the remainder of the period while they finessed the game and played hard. Each team shot nine on goal with the Hurricanes ending the period with more than half of their third power-play left.
When they began the third, Carolina scored on the remaining man advantage with Andrei Svechnikov scoring his second of the season. Just 18 seconds later, Dylan Larkin got his team back out front. The Hurricanes vied for their moment to level the score in the final period, pulling out all the stops to do so. Though it took several minutes, Carolina pushed the Red Wings to the brink before Svechnikov rung one off the inside of the post for his second of the night.
With five minutes left, the Hurricanes kept up the pace with Detroit desperate to not only win the game but avoid an OT situation. On a second power play, the Red Wings worked themselves hard in the Carolina zone where a shot from Zadina to Robby Fabbri gave them a 3-2 lead. With 2:16 left, the Hurricanes took a timeout, pulling Mrazek from the net. On a win from the faceoff in the Red Wing’s zone, Larkin took control of the puck and got ahead of the opposition to shoot it into the net for his second with 1:56 left in regulation.
It was the game-winner that brought home the win for them to begin the weekend. Ryan only played 12 minutes in the game but made his mark at the right time. “I felt like I settled in relatively quickly, Ryan said to Fox Sports Detroit’s John Keating. “To put us up one for us was going in the right direction, I’ll take what I can get.”
With things turning out much better in their second try, Detroit would do it all over again when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets early Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment