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4 goal second period carries Detroit to 5-3 win over Kings |
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Summary:
The second period blew open and Detroit skated off the ice with a 5-1 lead. Then, the third period very nearly brought the team back down to earth. Los Angeles outshot Detroit 17-3 in the third and scored twice. Alex Lyon made the kind of saves the team has needed this year. Seider is playing physically and munching minutes, but Kopitar and crew are visibly upset about the past stretch of games.
For the readers looking for size and strength, the third period showed what it can do for a team. The Kings had Detroit pinned down and the defense was extremely active. Detroit is going to need to get some more grit, but it’s the 5th straight game with a point with 4 wins in the past 5 (1 OT loss to EDM).
Detroit is going to face the goal bonanza tomorrow night and early talk about Reimer coming in wasn’t necessarily comforting. Yes, Lyon is being relied on to help carry this time. There are fans worried about wearing him out, but Lyon seems to thrive on the time. January isn’t even half over yet, there’s a lot ahead of this team still. Copp seemed to come alive tonight and that would be a welcome boost. He’s seemed frustrated and I’ve speculated that something isn’t quite right. Tonight he looked good and it was a nice boost for the center/winger.
Toronto will have issues in the future in terms of cap space, but Austin Matthews is one player who could well match or even surpass Ovechkin so long as he stays healthy. Ovi is 64 goals short of matching Gretzky but having a rough year. Matthews is a scoring machine that at times looks unstoppable. This may be a big test for Detroit to see how far they’ve come and how much further they have to go.
For tonight, a fun win but with a little more drama than desired in the third. That was a dominant performance by L.A. that didn’t result in goals scored. The team didn’t quit, and looking ahead one day Kopitar and Doughty will be giving their hall of fame speeches and the league will be missing to fantastic players. Seeing Kane look like vintage Kane and even a little bit like Datsyuk on his goal was a great way to get a game winning goal. It was just fun to watch it come together.
Detroit First Period goals:
At 2:44 Larkin snapped a shot from the red line and picked the far corner of the net after Perron had stripped the puck and passed it to the captain. 1-0 DET.
Shots: 9-8 Kings
Score: 1-1
Detroit Red Wings Second Period goals:
At 9:17 Larkin scored his second of the night on a 5 on 3 after winning a draw back to Gostisbehere who deferred to Kane. Kane skated in and found Dylan for a quick elevated shot. 2-1 DET
At 16:22 after a 3 man rush developed with Veleno on the left, JV passed to Sprong who got the puck on net and Fabbri tapped it in. 3-1 Detroit
Just over a minute later Patrick Kane went full “show time” grabbing the puck in the neutral zone, driving the net and with some nice deke work slid the puck in far side while he skated in the opposite direction. 4-1 DET
With 12.5 seconds left, after Copp worked incredibly hard to get the puck to Petry on the blue line, the Dman shot it and Christian Fischer may have gotten a stick on it. Waiting for confirmation. So far being credited to Copp who has looked good tonight. Whatever has been holding him back doesn’t seem to be an issue right now. 5-1 DET
Shots: 27-19 DET
Score: 5-1 DET
Third Period Detroit goals
No third period Detroit goals
Shots: 36-30 Kings
Score: 5-3 DET
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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