Shootout Dooms the Wings Again

The Winnipeg Jets came into town as the Red Wings aimed to revenge their embarrassing effort against Pittsburgh. Thankfully this was also the first start for Jimmy Howard after the ugly groin injury he suffered 35 days earlier. The Wings started out strong and jumped out to a 3-1 lead. However sloppy play and a rusty goaltender allowed the Jets to take control and if not for some late game magic by Smith & Datsyuk the team could have seen their first back-to-back regulation losses of the season. In OT the team would survive a breakaway against and a full 2 minute penalty kill to send the game into the shootout. In the shootout Jimmy was surprisingly excellent, but the team gave him no run support and the Jets we able to escape Motown with the extra point.

The Wings started out strong but it was the Jets who got on the board first thanks to an incredible tip by Thorburn that squeaked through Jimmy, 1-0 Winnipeg. While the Red Wings dominated possession early, the Jets did a great job of taking away the middle of the ice and making it hard on the Red Wing forwards. Darren Helm was flying all night long, potentially due to the home-town opposition, but lets hope he can stay at this speed for the remainder of the season. After the Jets took 2 penalties on the same forecheck, the Wings were gifted with a 5-3 advantage for a 2 minutes. Both Datsyuk and Nyquist had great backdoor opportunities but it was Kronwall who tied the game at 1 with an absolute blast from the point. While the Jets made it hard to get to the danger areas the Wings’ speed was very evident and was the key to a very good period for the home team.

Early in the 2^nd the Wings again went on the PP after Myers was caught hacking Abby. Although Helm was denied trying to pass cross crease to Datsyuk, he picked up the rebound and hammered it home to make it 2-1 Detroit. Only 4 minutes later Darren Helm was at it again. After using his speed to create some space on the half-wall, Helm fired a shot on net that took a bounce off Datsyuk’s arm to make it 3-1 Detroit. Unfortunately the lead didn’t last long as the Red Wing's play became extremely sloppy and allowed the Jets to take over the game. First Myers made a great play to go coast to coast after a bad change by the Wings and Wheeler put in the rebound, 3-2 Wings. Then a neutral zone turnover led to an interference penalty by Marchenko giving the Jets a PP with 11:45 left in the 2^nd. On the man advantage Scheifele somehow dangled through all 4 Red Wings killers but couldn’t hold on, allowing the Wings to escape the penalty with their lead intact, so we thought. With only 30 seconds left on the penalty, a harmless shot from the half-wall handcuffed Jimmy who put it into his own net to make it 3-3 heading into the 3^rd.

The Wings started the 3rd on the PK after Ericsson was called for hooking late in the 2^nd but were able to kill it off to keep the game tied at 3. Then Jurco went to the box for taking out Byfuglien’s feet. On the ensuing power-play Ladd would find some space in the slot and fire one past Jimmy to give the Jets the lead, 4-3 Jets. The Jets controlled play for the remainder of the period and the Wings looked destined for their first back to back regulation losses of the season. Then with only 6 minutes remaining Brendan Smith went coast to coast, picked up his own rebound and made a great pass to a streaking Pavel Datsyuk. One subtle move to the middle and Pavel put it in the back of the net to tie the game up at 4 and send it into OT.

Early in the OT Datsyuk had a great chance off a beautiful give-and-go but Hutchinson came up big. However the Wings gave the Jets a chance of their own after Perrault picked Sheahan’s pocket for a breakaway. Jimmy Howard came up with the save to keep the game tied with 3 minutes left in the extra frame. With just over 2 minutes left Quincey was called for roughing, giving the Jets a 4 on 3 advantage and a chance to end it. Despite being shelled for the entire 2 minutes, the penalty kill and Jimmy stood tall to survive and send the game into the shootout.

In the shootout Jimmy Howard stood tall, making saves on his first 3 attempts against. However Hutchinson was up to the task and made 3 saves of his own to send the shootout into sudden death. The new Jet, Drew Stafford scored the first goal, sneaking one under Jimmy’s glove to give the Jets the extra point.

Compared to last game this was a much better effort by the Wings, particularly for the first 30 minutes. However the team seemed to relax after the 3-1 lead and lost the possession advantage. Jimmy was rusty, as should be expected, but seemed to play better as the game went on. It is tough to see the team not pick up the extra point, particularly with the daunting schedule ahead of them. However considering the ugly goals given up by Jimmy and the poor play in the final half of the game, I will take the point. Lets hope the Wings can turn in a full 60 minutes and Jimmy's rust is behind him so the team can get a very important  2 points against Montreal on Monday night.