Red Wings drop fifth straight in loss to Islanders at Joe Louis Arena; Howard injured

By @SKubus –

DETROIT – Detroit’s longest losing streak of the season looked to have been on its way out early, but missed opportunities ultimately returned to haunt the Red Wings Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.

Henrik Zetterberg’s first goal since Nov. 26 and a 22-save relief performance from Petr Mrazek wasn’t enough for Detroit (17-8-8), as the New York Islanders (22-10-0) extended the Red Wings’ losing streak to five games with a 2-1 victory. Brock Nelson and Anders Lee each potted a goal and an assist for the Isles, while Jaroslav Halak turned aside 17 of 18 shots.

“I thought we played all right and had humdinger chances, I mean right in the slot,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “We had some good looks, but we’ve gotta hit the net, but I didn’t mind tonight’s game. I thought our effort was good, and I would’ve liked to see us execute on a couple plays a little better. I thought Mrazek was fantastic coming in off the bench.”

The Red Wings stormed the ice early, looking determined to end a four-game skid, as Henrik Zetterberg notched the game’s first goal, his first since Nov. 26 in a 5-2 win over Philadelphia. The captain took a quick feed in the high slot from Darren Helm and unleashed a one-timer past Halak at 8:49 for the 1-0 lead.

But Nelson tied things up late in the opening frame, diving in the slot to knock a puck underneath Howard as he went to cover the puck.

Mrazek replaced Jimmy Howard to start the second stanza, as it was later announced Howard had a lower-body injury and sat out as a precaution. There was no immediate word after the game as to the extent of the injury nor how much time he may miss. But as the Red Wings’ backup netminder said after the game, backup goalie always have to be prepared, and he was just that.

Early in the period with the Islanders on the power play, Mrazek made a tremendous save on a Nelson cross-crease one-timer when it looked like there was no hope.

“They had a power play, and it was my first minute on the ice, so I just tried to be focused and get in the game so I was happy some pucks there hit me in the first five minutes,” Mrazek said.

He later stopped Nelson again in alone after a Riley Sheahan giveaway, but Lee was there to bang home the rebound and, after video review, give the Isles a 2-1 lead at the 10:42 mark.

For being the NHL’s second-best team in the face-off circle this season at 54.6-percent, Detroit struggled against the Isles, finding themselves on the losing end of 64-percent of the draws after two periods, a big point of concern for Babcock.

“The face-off circle hurt us through two periods,” Babcock said. “We didn’t win any draws through two periods… So, we spent a lot of time chasing.”

Despite a flurry of late chances in the third period, Halak and the Isles defense held the fort down to capture two points on the road.

The Red Wings will hope to end the losing skid Sunday evening, as they host the surprisingly-struggling Colorado Avalanche.

“We’ve just got to have a good practice day tomorrow, regroup and kind of forget about this, keep doing the good things and change the bad things,” Zetterberg said.