Wings snag big two points against division-leading Panthers

 

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – Jeff Blashill liked the way his team played in the Feb. 4 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers despite not getting the victorious result, but just four days later, the Wings achieved that result.

Having lost the first two games of the season series with Florida, the Wings captured a huge two points with a 3-0 victory at Joe Louis Arena Monday night. Pavel Datsyuk led the way with a pair of third-period goals, while Tomas Tatar recorded his 16th of the season. Petr Mrazek notched his fourth shutout of the season and the ninth of his career, stopping all 23 shots he faced from the division-leading Panthers, in what was the first of three division games this week.

“We had a good game obviously the other night, we were able to win against the Islanders, so you want to build off that momentum, especially at home,” Blashill said. “We talked about doing a better job at home than we had previously in terms of results and playing a team in our division that we’re chasing, it’s a big game. The other thing I’d say is they’re a really good hockey team, so I thought from a process standpoint, we had to play real good in order to have an opportunity to win and I thought we did play real good, so real positives I think from our end.”

With eight goals in the past two games, the offense has suddenly come to life with some fresh line combinations, led by the Eurotwins: Datsyuk and captain Henrik Zetterberg, who combined for two goals and two assists Monday night.

“I hope we just keep going and find more chemistry together and just pull team together and play better, whole team,” Datsyuk said.

“It’s fun, we’ve been playing on the same team for many, many years and basically seven years since we really played with each other for almost a full season, so it’s fun when we get a chance to play with each other,” Zetterberg said.

While the offense was sharp, Mrazek was even sharper between the Wings’ pipes, allowing just one goal in the previous two games.

“It’s always a little tougher when you don’t have many shots, but you have to be focused, you have to do your best there and try to get as many saves as you can,” Mrazek said. “When the team scores, it’s a way easier job to be in the net and we did a great job against the Islanders and today.”

Gustav Nyquist thought he had the game’s opening goal with less than a minute to play in the opening frame, but video review determined it was inconclusive as to whether the puck crossed the goal line. No angle clearly showed the puck in the net, but it did seem that the puck disappeared after it approached the goal line near the post and former Michigan Wolverine Al Montoya’s left pad.

In the middle frame, Justin Abdelkader threw a heavy hit on Florida’s budding forward Aleksander Barkov, who entered the game on a six-game point streak. The hit knocked Barkov out of the game and he did not return. Blashill said he thought it was a clean “hockey hit,” and Abdelkader said he believed he followed through the body, as well, but it remains to be seen if there will be any supplemental discipline stemming from it.

“I’m a type of player that is going to go out and play hard. My job is to go out there and finish checks. I don’t think I’m a cheap player or trying to make cheap shots out there,” Abdelkader said.

Both teams had exquisite records coming into the game when scoring the first goal, as Florida was 26-3-4 and Detroit was 23-5-5. After going 40 minutes without a goal, the game had the feel that it might take just one to produce a victory.

Tatar finally broke the deadlock at 4:19 of the third period with his 16th of the season. Jakub Kindl – in for Mike Green, who was out with a groin injury – took a feed from Dylan Larkin at the point, walked the blue line and threw a wrister on goal that Tatar was able to get a stick on and tip past Montoya. Coming off back-to-back multi-point games, Larkin extended his point streak to three games with the helper.

Then, with 8:34 to play and the Wings on the power play, it was Datsyuk who delivered a crucial insurance goal. Datsyuk curled around at the left point, walked in and unleashed a wrister from near the top of the circle and beat Montoya top shelf for his seventh of the season. Florida challenged on the basis of being offsides, but after review, it was determined to be onsides and the goal stood.

For good measure, Datsyuk added his second of the game just 1:08 later to extend the lead to 3-0, capitalizing on a gorgeous pass from Zetterberg before sliding a puck through Montoya’s five-hole.

“I certainly thought that looked a lot like what we’ve all seen at different times in the past and, to their defense, they haven’t had much opportunity to gel, and that’s what they asked me for, was more time to be able to play together, and they do play off each other so well,” Blashill said. “I thought they looked dynamic at times tonight.”

The Red Wings continue their homestand Wednesday with a tilt against the Ottawa Senators, another Atlantic Division battle.