Red Wings knock off NHL-best Predators 5-2 at Joe Louis Arena (with photos/video)

Photos by Kaileigh Brammer/MiHockey

By @SKubus –

DETROIT –  The Detroit Red Wings could not have asked for a better start to 2015 in their home building.

The Red Wings struck early and often to defeat the NHL-best Nashville Predators by a 5-2 final Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena. Tomas Tatar led the charge with his 19th and 20th goals of the season, while Petr Mrazek turned aside 34 of 36 shots. Gustav Nyquist, Kyle Quincey and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for Detroit, who improved to 25-11-9 on the season.

“It’s one of the best teams in the NHL right now, so a big challenge, and a huge two points for us,” Mrazek said.

The line of Sheahan, Tatar and Nyquist combined for three goals and four assists on the evening, much to the delight of head coach Mike Babcock.

“They’re good players, real good players playing good and feeling good,” Babcock said. “Riley’s a big, big man who knows how to play without the puck and makes real good plays with it, so he looks after those guys good.”

It was evident from the get-go that the Preds were coming off a hard-fought game last night, a 4-3 victory over Washington. And combined with their MVP netminder Pekka Rinne being injured, it allowed Detroit to capitalize.

Just 57 seconds into the contest, Tatar broke up a Preds neutral-zone play, fed the puck to Riley Sheahan who caught the pass up between his legs and went in on a 2-on-1 with Nyquist. Sheahan fed Tatar with a perfect saucer pass over the lone sprawling defender’s stick and Nyquist made no mistake, going upstairs with the one-timer for his 17th of the season and the 1-0 lead.

“That was a big part of the game, starting on time,” head coach Mike Babcock said.

Quincey added his third of the season at 11:22, as his point shot deflected off a defender’s rear end and in the net to extend Detroit’s lead to two. Tatar then wristed home his team-leading 19th on a feed from Nyquist just 1:10 after Quincey’s goal for a three-goal cushion.

But Detroit’s former Central Division rival wouldn’t be shut out for long, as Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm let a shot go that beat Mrazek to make it 3-1 late in the period.

With the game’s first power play coming 2:04 into the second stanza, Zetterberg carried the puck behind the goal line to the right of Mazanec as Detroit set up in the Nashville zone and flipped a shot just underneath the bar but over the goalie’s shoulder to put Detroit up 4-1. It looked like there was no room, but the Red Wings’ captain found a seam 2:14 into the middle frame.

“He’s sneaky, he’s really, really smart, a veteran player,” Tatar said of Zetterberg and his goal. “It was a good shot and it ended up in the net.”

Detroit continued to demonstrate why its power play is in the top-five this season, as Tatar potted his second of the game and 20th of the season to put Detroit up 5-1, finishing off a simple, effective passing play from Sheahan and Stephen Weiss.

“I’m happy I did it and hopefully I’ll keep scoring and help the team get wins,” Tatar said of reaching the 20-goal plateau.

With Zetterberg in the box to begin the final frame for 1:55, Mike Fisher scored 49 seconds into the period to bring Nashville to within three. But that was the last piece of rubber Mrazek let by him, as Detroit held on for the 5-2 triumph.

After the game, Babcock said he was going back to Mrazek for Sunday night’s game against Buffalo.

“I feel pretty good right now,” Mrazek said. “Every game you’re playing is important and you want to win, so you have to be ready for that.”