The Detroit Red Wings entered Tuesday night’s game struggling in one key area. But they erased some of those struggles.
Some of Detroit’s younger players and Dylan Larkin made immediate impacts in Tuesday night’s win. But special teams on both sides of the ice showed a dramatic improvement.
The Red Wings entered Tuesday’s matchup with awful special teams numbers after the first two games of the season. Its power play was a meager 1-for-7, good for a 14.2 percent conversion rate. The penalty kill clocked in at 4-for-8, meaning the Wings killed just 50 percent of opposing power plays.
If Detroit wanted to stop playing from behind, the task was easy: Find a way to stop an opponent while short-handed. And start finding the net more when there is an opportunity.
The Wings killed the first two penalties they faced before Drake Batherson burst through and scored at the 6:08 mark. But that was as good as it got for Ottawa, who had five opportunities on the man advantage for the evening.
Red Wings Power Play Found Its Groove Multiple Times
At the 0:48 mark of the second period, Nikolas Matinpalo got called for holding, giving the Wings a chance to put a dent in their power-play woes. Lucas Raymond connected with Dylan Larkin, who nearly scored his second goal of the evening.
But Senators’ goaltender Samuel Ersson deflected it with a pad save before Viktor Arvidsson took control of the puck and scored. It was Arvidsson’s second goal and second power-play goal of the year.
What made this play work was how in sync the Red Wings looked on that finishing sequence. Larkin snuck behind Ottawa’s defense and was all alone in front of Ersson. He showed zero hesitation on his ensuing shot, and it forced an Ottawa player to inadvertently block Ersson. This let a wide-open Arvidsson finish the sequence.
Detroit’s Second Power Play Goal Was Pure Effort
The Red Wings faced a unique empty-net situation as Ottawa tried to tie the game in the closing moments. Detroit found itself deep in its defensive zone, but Justin Faulk retrieved the puck and snuck it to Lucas Raymond.
Raymond fired the puck down the ice toward the empty net while DeBrincat showed incredible recovery speed, racing down the rink to take control of the puck from the right circle. He scooped up the puck and eased it past a diving Senators player to ice the game for Detroit.
While there was no goaltender to beat, the sheer effort and the fact that the Senators cut Detroit’s lead to one earlier in the period raised the stakes.
One good night on special teams doesn’t erase its struggles. But it can set the stage to push both the power play and penalty kill in the right direction. Detroit now must show that it can string together consistent performances on special teams.
That next opportunity will come on Friday night against the Seattle Kraken, a team that struggled on special teams last season.
Red Wings Show Major Improvement in Troubling Area