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The Detroit Red Wings started their 2014-15 journey with a well-deserved 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night thanks to
Gustav Nyquist's power-play goal, off a slick feed from linemate
Darren Helm to last as the game-winner.
The Wings took advantage of the Bruins playing their first back-to-back game of the season and held a significant advantage in territorial play, in particular during the second period where only some strong play from
Tuukka Rask kept the Bruins within one goal heading into the final period.
The two points were necessary for Detroit to grab, given the Bruins situation coming off a hard-fought 2-1 home the night before, along with losing the services of
Patrice Bergeron midway during the contest to undergo the league’s concussion protocol following a big hit received from
Niklas Kronwall.
In the third, the Bruins attempted to make a push but it was
Jimmy Howard’s turn to shut the door as he made a few big glove saves to preserve the victory for Detroit. Considering the number of third period leads the club squandered last season, this was a positive start for the Wings and their young group of players moving forward.
All in all, the Wings received several very good performances from both their key contributors along with those in supporting roles. The player who seemed to be everywhere on this night was
Johan Franzen. In addition to having assists on both Detroit goals, he was involved in numerous scrums and his line with
Henrik Zetterberg and
Justin Abdelkader.
There is no denying that a motivated “Mule” certainly is a player that can do wonders for the Wings and provide some nastiness when he’s in an agitated mood. Something that has been too infrequent recently, Franzen definitely got off to a strong start with last night’s performance.
The Red Wings did a good job of limiting the Bruins scoring chances and not giving up many odd-man rushes. In addition, both special teams units got off to strong starts with the penalty killing units standing tall for the Red Wings killing off four Boston power plays. Especially in the third period, the Red Wings penalty killers, (in particular
Luke Glendening and
Drew Miller) preserved the 2-1 lead despite a slashing penalty to
Brendan Smith early in the third period and an elbowing minor to Franzen with 2:34 left.
Meanwhile, the power-play struggled at first but improved as the game wore on and capitalized on an opportunity late in the 2nd period to score the decisive goal. Last season, the Wings’ power-play began the season 0-for-13 before ripping off three power-play goals in a 5-2 win over Philadelphia in their fifth contest of the season.
All in all, a solid start for the Red Wings, who will prepare today for tomorrow night’s arrival of the Anaheim Ducks, fresh off a 6-4 thrashing in Pittsburgh last night. I don’t expect any lineup changes, although one might wonder if
Stephen Weiss finds his way into the lineup, perhaps to replace
Joakim Andersson, who continues to struggle and not be as effective as he was a couple of seasons ago.
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