They won at home, they won by a big margin, and they got goals from a variety of sources in impressive fashion.

For one day at least, you’d really had to be a miserable human being to find something wrong with what the Detroit Red Wings delivered.

A solid 5-1 win over the New York Islanders Saturday at Joe Louis Arena ended Detroit’s two-game losing skid since returning from the NHL All-Star break and also put a halt to the club’s 0-4-1 slide on home ice.

“Obviously it's imperative that we get wins here at home,” Detroit defenseman Mike Green said. “We haven't been getting our points here at home and it was a big night for us to sort of get in the right direction and I thought the guys played really well tonight and (goalie) Petr (Mrazek) stood on his head.”

The last time the Wings won at home, they hadn’t even opened their Christmas presents yet. Saturday’s victory was Detroit’s first at the Joe since a 4-2 verdict over the Calgary Flames on Dec. 20.

“Our process at home has been good,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “We haven’t got results at home. Tonight we got results.

“We didn’t do everything perfect tonight by any stretch but one thing we did do was score goals. I thought our offense, we didn’t score lucky goals; we scored real hockey goals.”

Jurco Snipes
Blashill has preached patience with forward Tomas Jurco, insisting that his scoring touch, which was slow to arrive at the AHL level, would eventually reach him in the NHL and a glimpse of that was evident when he tallied Saturday’s opening goal.

Jurco moved into open ice, took a feed from Gustav Nyquist and snapped a quick shot past Jaroslav Halak.

“I thought Jurcs’ best game of the year was in Florida,” Blashill said. “I thought he followed up with a real good game here tonight.

“That goal that he scored was the reason why I thought he’d have a chance to score goals in the NHL. I saw that in the American League. He got it across his body and snapped it off right away.

“That’s a real high-end goal. He’s got an ability to do that. I think his confidence is growing. I also really trust him defensively which I think you would have saw in terms of the position I put that line in. But I do think his confidence is growing.”

Delays, Delays
The start of the third period was held up 36 minutes after one of the Zambonis pulled out one of the pegs that holds the net in place and dragged it for about 50 feet, carving a significant gouge into the ice.

“It’s a tough situation but it’s the reality of things happen,” Blashill said. “Unfortunately there was an ice situation and we couldn’t play it until it was safe for the players.

“I thought the refs did a great job of involving (captains John) Tavares (of the Isles) and (Detroit’s Henrik) Zetterberg and until the players felt it was a safe situation we weren’t going to play.

“I also think on the other side of it we were going to wait as long as we had to wait to get this in. You don’t want to have to go back and play that period later on.”

Briefly, there was some question whether the ice could be repaired in time to finish the contest. Ultimately, it was decided upon resumption to change ends midway through the period so both teams would defend the goal at the end where the ice was damaged but the players admitted they were a little tentative upon first returning to action.

“When I was 14, I broke my ankle with a big rut like that,” Detroit forward Dylan Larkin said. “It was pretty scary seeing a rut like that but they did a good job covering it over. You didn’t notice it much; it didn’t affect play.

“You don’t want anyone to get hurt, especially with a rut like that. It could take out a knee or an ankle or something pretty bad.”

AA OK
Center Andreas Athanasiou drew his first NHL assist on a goal by Tomas Tatar and drew passing grades for his performance in his second stint with the Wings this season, though AA didn’t get straight A’s from Blashill.

“I actually thought he’s better than he did tonight,” Blashill said. “I thought he did an OK job. I think there’s more there from an energy and a speed standpoint.

“I thought he got the puck a few times in the neutral zone with space and didn’t skate. Him and I will talk about that. He’s got to be a guy who drives that speed, drives our ability to put other teams on their heels.

“The Tatar goal was a great play by him. The shot was a real shot. It had a chance to go in so then the goalie wasn’t able to control it and the rebound lies there and Tats comes in hard. I thought he did a fine job but I think there’s more there still.”

Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer

Join the Discussion: » 9 Comments » Post New Comment

» Five of Last Six First Rounders To Start Season In AHL

» Zadina, Veleno sent down

» Opening-Night Roster Not Set In Stone

» Back Where Pro Hockey Started

» Abdelkader Looking To Bounce Back