Only 10 games in for Detroit and these 2 teams met for the 3rd time this season already. Detroit took the 1st game 2-1 in OT whilst losing 1-0 Saturday night in Minnesota.
Jiri Hudler was out of the line up after a poor 5 game pointless stretch where he hardly put a puck on net meaning Nyquist was brought up from Grand Rapids to start his 1st NHL game for Detroit.
Mike Babcock had some strong words before the game and mixed the lines up from the start which seemed to give Detroit some extra bounce in the opening. Holmstrom was back with Datsyuk and Zetterberg whilst, Helm, Miller and Abdelkader looked to have good jump.
Detroit got an early powerplay and took a 1-0 lead just as that powerplay finished with Captain Nick Lidstrom redirecting a perfect pass from Zetterberg high past Josh Harding’s glove. The opening 6 minutes had all been Detroit with them outshooting the Wild 9-0 at this point.
All Detroit’s early momentum was then killed as first Miller and then Fillpula took 2 minute minors. Minnesota couldn’t take advantage of these back to back powerplay’s though and Detroit killed them off comfortably.
The first period really then faded out and finished with Detroit still holding their 1-0 lead and outshooting the Wild 12-4.
The 2nd period never had any flow to it as Howard and Harding both stood firm without having to produce anything spectacular. Detroit ran into some penalty trouble towards the end of it but the Wild couldn’t find any rhythm on the powerplay and rarely created any great scoring chances.
The Redwings started the 3rd as they finished the 2nd, finding themselves spending more time in the penalty box as Bertuzzi got 2 minutes for a slash and Miller took 2 minutes for charging Harding as he came behind the net to play the puck. This lead to over a minute 5 on 3 for the Wild and straight away Howard made a magnificent glove save right down infront of his posts as Koivu couldn’t lift the puck into a gaping net. 2 more great pad saves from Howard saw the 5 on 3 killed as the Joe went wild. A huge penalty kill for Detroit got the penalty killers a deserved standing ovation.
Both defences were still on top as White found Eaves on a partial breakaway with the Wild defence doing well to stop him going in clear on Harding and causing him not to get his shot away.
A penalty to the Wild with around 8 minutes left saw Detroit get some puck on Harding but he pulled a great save off Lidstrom and then stood firm to kill off the Redwings 2nd powerplay of the game.
Abdelkader then got a great scoring chance as a turn over at mid ice caught the Wild on a change but Harding again got his glove on it to pull off the big save. This lead to another penalty though on the Wild as Detroit started to push to finish the game off. The powerplay however was cut short as Holmstrom took a penalty only 45 seconds into the man advantage.
Minnesota tied the game up with Harding pulled and just over a minute left as Koivu tipped a long shot in past Howard to break his shut out. Detroit got caught with a tired line on the ice at the end and the game went into OT.
A minute into OT and Franzen was called for goaltender interference and Detroit’s desire to keep putting themselves in difficult situations continued. An 8th powerplay chance for Minnesota lead to the game winning goal for Devin Setoguchi infront as he tucked the puck in from close range.
Detroit defensively again were solid but just can’t get any sort of rhythm going upfront. They have now only scored 5 goals in the last 5 games, unsurprisingly they have only taken 1 point from 10 in that run. At the minute, Jimmy Howard seems to be holding this Detroit team in games. Penalty trouble cost the Redwings this game. From taking penalty number 1 after a good start to the opening period they never got any constant attacking play and Minnesota were able to hold in there with them and then hit them when it mattered.
by Adam Yates
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