Photos by Jen Hefner/MiHockey
By @SKubus –
DETROIT – Following Tuesday’s brutal loss to Ottawa, Mike Babcock wanted to focus on the positive things when fielding questions from the media.
Despite how bad the result and the circumstances of a blown lead and 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins–of all teams–sounds, the Red Wings turned in a monumentally better performance overall Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.
“I thought we had a good game all the way through, really, to be honest with you,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “We had a few mistakes that turned into some scoring chances for them, but that’s the way it went both ways. I thought, all in all, it was a good game for us, a lot of energy. I thought we did a lot of good things out there.
Boston not only took two points, but also tied Detroit in the standings with 93 points. Exactly one month ago, the B’s were ten points back of the Red Wings.
“It’s always, of course, disappointing (losing the lead in a game) right now, but it’s encouraging the way we played,” Kronwall said. “I thought, obviously, we’d like to have a couple of those goals back, but it is what it is. We’ve just got to stay the course, stay patient in here, try to stay positive and look ahead for Saturday.”
Luke Glendening and Stephen Weiss potted the goals for Detroit, while Carl Soderberg, Loui Eriksson and Zach Trotman scored for Boston. Trotman’s first NHL goal late in the final frame stood as the game-winner. Tuukka Rask turned aside 35 of 37 in his team’s victory.
“For me, it’s the best we’ve played in a while,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we skated good, and I thought we forechecked good, I thought we had the Bruins in lots of trouble. In the end, they were able to weather the storm and get the win, but I like what we did.”
Petr Mrazek was sharp for the majority of the game, stopping 22 of 25, despite Trotman’s game-winner being a soft goal. Babcock said he plans to stick with Mrazek, but that he would sleep on the decision.
“It’s like anything, as a goaltender you want to stop them all,” Babcock said. “I remember the kid made some saves, as well, so it all goes part and parcel.”
For a team that has struggled mightily with starting on time, the Red Wings stormed out of the gate with a considerably higher compete level and greater sense of urgency, as the trio of Justin Abdelkader, Gustav Nyquist and Henrik Zetterberg proved to be the team’s most effective group through the contest’s opening 20 minutes.
“We had some real good opportunities there from the beginning, first period, me included,” Zetterberg said. “We’ve got to bear down when we get the chances. This time of year when you have your chances, you’ve got to score. Not doing that right now.”
Within the game’s first 15 minutes, Detroit had already recorded 15 shots on goal, two shy of their season-low total of 17 from Tuesday’s game against Ottawa. But alas, both teams left the ice knotted at zero after the buzzer sounded on the first frame.
Boston cracked at 9:19 of the second stanza, as Glendening broke the deadlock with his 12th of the season, chipping a rebound on the backhand past Rask off a Danny DeKeyser point blast that took a Joe Louis Arena-bounce off the end-boards and back out in front.
Weiss put the Red Wings up 2-0 off a feed from Riley Sheahan, 2:52 into the third period, a powerplay tally. With the Red Wings crashing the net, Sheahan was off to the right of Rask, flipped a puck on his backhand toward the front of the crease, and Weiss managed to get enough of it mid-air to pop it into the cage.
But shortly after on their own powerplay, Soderberg cut the Red Wings’ lead to one, roofing a rebound up and over a sprawling Mrazek. And after Reilly Smith made a brilliantly patient move around Mrazek to bring him out of position, Eriksson came through the crease and deposited the puck into an open net to even up the tilt at two aside.
With a mere 2:08 remaining, Trotman skated down the right side and tucked a shot between Mrazek’s glove and body for the 3-2 lead, and Boston held down the fort from there.
Though the team was 24-0-4 when leading after 40 minutes and gave up a two-goal lead in the third period, the Red Wings also had ample opportunities to put the puck in the net themselves, something the team has not had trouble doing lately–Detroit had scored four goals in four of the previous five outings entering Thursday’s game.
“A lot of our guys skated well and moved the puck good, we spent a lot of time in the offensive zone rolling around and, in the end, we didn’t score enough,” Babcock said.
Detroit heads to Minnesota to face the Wild before returning home to host the Washington Capitals Sunday night.
Notes: Defenseman Marek Zidlicky assisted on Weiss’ goal for his 400th career point and sole possession of third place in all-time scoring by Czech defensemen, passing Petr Svoboda.