Dylan Larkin Leads Red Wings to Victory in Final Seconds of Overtime
The Wings have now won 5 of 6 following their dramatic comeback over the New York Rangers last night. The Rangers led the shot total for the majority of the game, but Detroit managed to finish with a 31-30 advantage on the night and a 3-2 win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRgEEZ-O0g0
A double-minor high-sticking penalty by Jacob de la Rose cost Detroit big, as the Blueshirts capitalized on both ensuing power-plays. First, defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk wristed home his first goal of the season. The once offensively-dominating blueliner has been relatively quiet this season, with only 3 points coming into the game. This goal was followed up 40 seconds later with a goal by Neal Pionk.
Detroit stormed back in the third period. Gustav Nyquist, who has shown his ability to produce points this season, set-up Justin Abdelkader with a great pass, from which Abdelkader stretched to chip past goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Lunqvist had been stellar all game.
With 2:02 to play, Andreas Athanasiou carried the puck in and cut across the crease and went forehand-backhand on King Henrik.
In the overtime period, Mike Green kept the play going in the waning seconds and Athanasiou backhanded a long pass to the awaiting Dylan Larkin, who scored the game-winner.
Jimmy Howard stopped 28 of 30 in the win. He improves to 5-5-2. However, he has not allowed fewer than 2 goals in any of his 12 games. He has allowed 3 or more six times.
Anthony Mantha
Mantha has only scored 3 goals and 2 assists through 16 games. Coming into this year, he was expected to contribute heavily to the team’s scoring. At this point, it seems as if he is regressing from his 48-point campaign from last season instead of improving upon his 24 goals and 24 assists. His young counterparts Larkin, Athanasiou, and Tyler Bertuzzi have stepped up their games of late, while Mantha has not proven that he deserves a top-six spot on the roster.
Michael Rasmussen
The rookie forward proved to the coaching staff and management team that he deserves to stay up with the big club, meaning if the status quo remains, he will likely not be joining Team Canada at the World Juniors this year. Thus far, he has scored 4 points in 14 games, while 3 of those 4 have come in the last five games.
Goal Production
Overall, the team has scored 43 goals. Only five teams have scored fewer goals this season. That is somewhat to be expected, especially following the retirement of Henrik Zetterberg. The Wings are lacking a pure goal scorer. Larkin’s 7 goals is tied for 30th in the league. To continue winning games, it will need to be a team effort.
A Look Ahead
The Red Wings wrap up this week with a game in Carolina (7:30), before facing Arizona on Tuesday (7:30), Ottawa on Thursday (7:30), and New Jersey on Saturday (1:00).
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Kevin Sporka
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