The Red Wings were on the road tonight in Phoenix to take on the Coyotes. The starting goaltenders were Bryzgalov and Howard. Eaves was back in the lineup tonight after recovering from the flu.
The Red Wings looked a little sloppy to start the game. Their passes weren’t connecting very well and they were turning the puck over a lot. Phoenix was getting a lot of chances and Jimmy Howard had to make too many saves. Howard was up to the challenge though and was able to prevent his team from falling behind early.
In the first period Detroit was on the power play and they weren’t able to get anything going. Phoenix did a good job of shutting them down and they killed off the penalty. After it expired the Red Wings finally got set up and had a few chances in front of the net but Bryzgalov stopped them. Then Datsyuk got the puck to Lidstrom at the point and he released a shot. Holmstrom was in front of the net and he tipped it into the other corner of the goal. I don’t think Bryzgalov even saw it. So after being out played for most of the period, the Red Wings were very fortunate to be up one to nothing.
In the second period Phoenix had a 5 on 3 power play. The puck came to Lang down low and he passed it through the slot to Lombardi on the other side. It was a great pass and Lombardi wasted no time burying the puck in his side of the net which was mostly wide open for the split second before Jimmy Howard could move across. That tied the game at one each.
With less than 20 seconds left in the second period Datsyuk got the puck to Lidstrom at the point. Lidstrom fired it at the net as Holmstrom moved to the front. Holmstrom tipped it and got it by Bryzgalov to take back the lead.
In the third period Detroit was on the power play. Bertuzzi passed across to Datsyuk who quickly shot it into the net beating Bryzgalov to make it three to one Wings.
The Red Wings shut the door for the rest of the third period. The Coyotes had some chances but for the most part the Wings controlled the game. When the Coyotes did get it Jimmy Howard continued to be on fire and stopped everything.
Near the end of the game the Coyotes pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Phoenix won a faceoff in the Detroit end but the Wings controlled. Helm got the puck and banked it off the boards to himself and took off toward the empty net. He took it into the Phoenix end and scored the empty net goal to make it four to one Red Wings.
After a bit of a rough start the Red Wings played very well tonight. This was another important game for the Red Wings since the Coyotes are ahead of them in the standings. It was critical to get two points tonight and not give up any. The Wings did a great job in that regard and hopefully they can keep this streak going and continue to have a great road trip.
This 4-1 win brings us to:
21-14-6
48 points
Tags: Coyotes, Detroit, NHL, Phoenix, Red Wings, Red Wings Blog