Yeah, it had been a while.

“I don’t know,” Steve Ott flatly admitted when asked to recount his previous goal after he’d tallied his first as a Detroit Red Wing in Thursday’s 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Joe Louis Arena.

Ott’s previous goal came March 10, 2015 for the St. Louis Blues against the Winnipeg Jets.

“(Blues coach Ken) Hitchcock didn’t let me score in St. Louis,” Ott joked. “It has been a while and especially through injury and what not. It’s fun to chip in. Throughout my career I’ve been able to somewhat chip in over the years before my last few.

“But you know what? What’s more important to me is continue to play a solid game and build something special here. And for us, that’s what we have to continue to do. Build the games and continue to bank these points and grab the momentum that you have and continue to push forward.”

Gaining a quick start when Dylan Larkin tallied 32 seconds into the game, it looked like the Wings were ready to roll the Canucks, who’ve won just once in 11 games but the tide was quickly stemmed.

“I think we were outshooting them 6-2,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we were building, I thought we were doing lots of good stuff, and then all of a sudden I thought we started passing up shots. Then we started not getting the puck deep. Then we’ve got to face their forecheck, which is really, really aggressive.

“I thought through large stretches of the game we weren’t good enough. I think we’re going to have to be better. Now with that said, they do a good job. Willie Desjardins is a good coach. They play hard for sure. But I didn’t think we broke the puck out well enough. I didn’t think we got pucks behind them well enough.

“Those two things I think are essential and as a result we didn’t have the puck enough. We’re going to do a better job of having the puck.”

AA To Sick Bay
Wings forward Andreas Athanasiou appeared to suffer a left leg injury after absorbing a punishing hit from Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin late in the first period.

After getting to his feet, Athanasiou took a few strides, then flexed his left knee and headed to the bench. He did not return to the game.

The Wings announced Athanasiou had suffered a lower-body injury.

“I don’t have an update right now,” Blashill said. “I’ll know more tomorrow.”

Jimmy Dandy
Once again, Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard was as solid as they come between the pipes. He’s really quelled his play from previous seasons and is very economical in his movements, allowing the puck to come to him.

“Economical is a good word,” Blashill said. “I think he’s been real economical in his movement. I think he’s done a good job of . . . I think when goalies are playing well they under move. They don’t over move. The movements are millimeters. And understanding that there’s tons of space, they’re patient on their feet and you can fill space that way. He’s doing a good job of that.

“He’s not spitting out rebounds. He’s controlling the puck. The puck’s sticking to him well.”

Vanek Update
Thomas Vanek was leading the Wings with four goals when he suffered a hip flexor injury Oct. 25 and eight games later, he finally relinquished a share of the team lead in that category when Larkin netted his fifth of the season.

“He skated today,” Blashill said of Vanek. “Thomas is skating a little bit. I think he’s going to have the sufficient time to make sure that when he comes back he’s going to be going full out. I assume when he’s ready to come off the long-term IR then he should then be ready to step in and play.

“The one thing I talked to him about was he came off the World Cup and I thought he could hit the ground running at the start of the year. Now that he’s been off a lengthy amount of time, we want to make sure it’s the same thing, that he’s ready to hit the ground running when he comes in for his next game.”

Just when that might be is anyone’s guess at the moment. Since he’s on long-term injured reserve, Vanek must sit out a minimum of 10 games, which means the earliest he’d be eligible to return to action would be Nov. 18 at Washington.

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