Glendening with the GW shortie!!

[yave1964]

4-2 victory over the desert dogs last night on the road with another nice power play goal by Martin Frk and another solid game by Jimmy Howard especially early when it was all Coyotes, a quick recap.

  The young hungry Coyotes came out firing from everywhere and testing Howard who was brilliant in the first when he had to be, Clayton Keller fired one through the crease barely missing and was stoned another time point blank. The turning point came at the start of the second when starter Aantti  Raanta did not answer the bell with a LBI and Louis Domingue who is awful took his place. It turned the tide, twice the Coyotes went up by a goal only to see the Wings answer, Zetterberg scored what may be the softest goal of the year to tie the game at 2, he tapped it on net from ten feet out, it slow motioned rolled to Domingue and right between his legs and somehow made it into the net. 

 

  Keller was the best skater for either team all night and I would say that even if he didn't have both Coyote goals, he goes to the net with speed power and confidence and looks really good doing so. He is fearless and teamed with Domi the Dogs have something for sure. OEL looked pretty bad for the Coyotes, his hockey IQ has never went up, he looks more and more like he should be a second pair defender and first power play sniper, nothing more. Since Yandle left he has been ordinary bordering on bad and that really describes how he played last night. 

  Lawson Crouse took liberties with Oullet which led to a one sided fight where he pretty much pummeled the smaller Jensen who came to his partners defense. Jensen was probably responsible for the first Coyote goal, bumping Howard in a goal mouth scramble, losing his man, going down and then sliding out of position while reaching in vain to knock the puck out of the crease as he slid backwards and Keller beat him to the puck which was just laying there. Other than that one really bad play Jensen wasn't bad tho. Green is displaying vision like he used to have, Kronwall came back and looked rusty but held his own. The defense for the most part was solid. Daley is the glue we needed.

 

  Glendening had his first career shorty in career game 297 which surprised me when I heard that as he is the primary P/K guy, he did so on a nice setup by Larkin who burst out of his own zone short handed on a two on one, the Coyote attackers were worn out and more or less watched the play. Domi was playing out of position on the point and got his legs tangled in a mismatch trying to chase Larkin who made a brilliant pass to Glendening for the GWG. Frk had another power play on his patented blast from the top of the dot, something the Wings haven't had since.....Hell I don't remember when we had someone who fired the puck like he does. Anyway, last year we went three months between road power plays, we have 2 in 2 games already and Frk is the reason.

 

 I would probably give the first star of the game to Howie who made all the plays early and kept us in the game when the Coyotes came out strong, Keller the second star with two goals and three or four other really good chances and Larkin the third star. He is not the same player who looked lost last season, he has vision and even a bit of a snarl to his game. He got into at least two shoving matches with Coyotes in the game.

  Good times, now on to Vegas baby!!

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964 

 

GWG was all Larkin’s making. OEL decided to break the rule and play the player with the puck on the 2-on-1 and not eliminate the pass, and they paid for it. Glendening, to his credit did a good job being in good position and not going offside.

 

There were lots of penalties in this game also, but unlike some of the others, they weren’t all tricky-tack. However, we had quite a problem with knocking pucks over the glass. 3 delay of game calls in the first. Really put us in a bind.

 

You also failed to mention the PK killing ANOTHER 90+ second 2-man advantage. Our PK has been nothing short of excellent, helping Howard shine. Yes, they gave up a goal last night, but it was still very good.

 

I am surprised at how much of an impact Daley and Frk are having. Frk looked like Ovie on that goal shot. Daley was solid all game, and has saved a defensive core that is otherwise pedestrian.

 

I didn’t think Domingue was terrible...except on Z’s goal. Yes, it matters what kind of goal you give up, and it was pretty dreadful. But other than that goal, for coming in cold, I thought he played pretty well. Frk beat him, but that shot would beat most. He had no chance on the Glendening tally. The other goal was EN.

 

Our face-offs looked better last night, especially after our first face-off man got booted. We still didn’t win a majority of those, but we weren’t just handing them the puck.

 

Ericksson played a MUCH better game than the last game. And Kronner didn’t look too bad in DDK’s stead. I was concerned about our D without DDK. They did a good job making up for his loss. 

 

Parting thought: it’s been a problem the last few seasons starting on time. This game was no different. Sloppy play. Not moving feet. Taking penalties. It has forced our goalies to be great, and Howard has answered...but he won’t always do that. Set the players watches and hour early for crying out loud! 

[WingNut722]

@SpikeDDS

 

I can't argue with you there.  It seems to be a hallmark of the Red Wings team to only play the second and third periods of any given game.  It WILL bite them at some point, as it always does.  For now though, they are playing well despite, and as you say, I'm really enjoying the play of Frk.  Larkin is showing flashes of his freshman year, and everyone seems to be clicking fairly well.  Handing Vegas their first franchise loss was pretty nice and being first place in the Atlantic Division looks good too!  I know, I know it's only been a handful of games but c'mon!! :-)