Red Wings explode for six goals in win over Penguins at The Joe
By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – The Red Wings found their offense in a big way Saturday night.
Detroit exploded for six goals in a 6-3 back-and-forth win over Pittsburgh to pick up two crucial points in the Eastern Conference standings.
Thomas Vanek, Mike Green, Andreas Athanasiou, Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist and Frans Nielsen scored for the Wings, while Jared Coreau got the win between the pipes with a 28-save effort. Anthony Mantha chipped in with a pair of helpers.
The Wings improve to 18-19-6 with the victory.
“Against those types of transition teams, we face three in a row now, you’ve just got to be ultra-smart,” Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said. “You’ve got to take what’s given and you can’t force plays. But with that said, some of the plays that we made tonight resulted in goals. There’s always a give-and-take to making plays. But I’d say the number one thing, I thought our compete level was real high.”
For Coreau, it was his first career start at Joe Louis Arena, and he managed to exact some revenge against the team he made his NHL debut against.
“It feels good, I think also playing at home was really nice,” Coreau said. “I waited a long time to play here, and glad I got a chance before we move rinks next year, but you can definitely tell the rivalry with those two Stanley Cup Finals back to back. The crowd was crazy, good energy, and it was exciting to play here.”
Kris Letang, who was later injured in the period, opened the scoring for the Pens just 27 seconds into the contest off a pass from captain Sidney Crosby. For Letang, he continued his domination of the Wings, extending his point streak against Detroit to five games (four goals, four assists).
Evgeni Malkin extended the Pittsburgh lead to 2-0 at 3:51 of the second period, finishing off a nifty pass from University of Michigan alum Carl Hagelin in the high slot.
Blashill said he particularly liked his team’s “answering shifts” following Pittsburgh’s goals in the game.
“Zetterberg’s line had an excellent shift after they scored the second goal. It’s answering shifts like that to try to not allow the momentum to go the other way is a big thing.”
But Nyquist got Detroit on the board with 10:59 remaining in the period, a one-timer that deflected off a Pittsburgh skate and past Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury. The goal marked Nyquist’s sixth of the season, but second in as many games.
With 6:32 to play in the frame, Justin Abdelkader centered a puck from behind the net on the right side and Vanek chipped home the loose puck in the slot to even things up.
Matt Cullen’s power-play goal with 2:04 left in the period that gave the Pens the lead once again. Phil Kessel took a low wrist shot on goal form the left circle. The rebound bounced off Cullen’s skate and found its way in the back of the net.
But the Wings weren’t going away. With 53 seconds left in the period, Green rifled a perfect, tape-to-tape pass from the point down to Nielsen at the back door, and he tipped the puck home to even the score at three aside.
A gorgeous goal by Athanasiou early in the third period put the Wings up 4-3, as he went end-to-end with the puck, toe dragged around a Pens defender and flipped a shot off the crossbar and down behind Fleury. The highlight-reel goal stood up to be the game-winner.
“I picked up the puck, saw some open ice so just took the open ice and coming over the blue line, I was in on them, made a move and it worked out,” Athanasiou said.
After being a healthy scratch, Athanasiou has since rebounded with four goals and seven points in five games.
“I don’t think confidence is an issue with him,” Zetterberg said. “He’s always trying stuff, he has a lot of skill, so he’s a fun player to have on your team.”
Athanasiou had his coach impressed with the goal, too.
“It’s a big goal kind of out of nothing,” Blashill said. “The one thing AA has is the ability to break people down and score goals on his own. Obviously he took it end to end and scored the goal on his own. It’s hard to score goals in this league, and when you get somebody who can self-create and do it on his own, it’s a big thing.”
The Pens thought they had evened things up once again on a Scott Wilson tip-in goal with 14:51 to play, but Detroit successfully challenged the goal on goaltender interference. Malkin and Abdelkader battled in front of the net, with the former pushing the latter into Coreau. That kept the Wings up by a goal.
With two seconds remaining of a 1:34 5-on-3 advantage, the Wings extended their lead courtesy of a Mike Green goal. Amidst chaos in front of Fleury, Green stepped in from between the circles and fired a wrister home to make it a 5-3 game.
Zetterberg added one with 6:46 remaining to give the Wings a 6-3 lead, as he went to the net and saw a puck bounce off his leg and in the net. The Wings held on for that to be the final score.
The Wings host the Montreal Canadiens in a Martin Luther King Day matinee on Monday at 3 p.m. Blashill said the win over the Pens could be a launching pad for the Wings’ current homestand, but only if they continue their play in the next game.
“I think it builds momentum if you play great on Monday and you win again,” Blashill said. “I think we’ve got to come Monday and we’ve got to play excellent against a team that’s been one of the better teams in the league most of the year. We’re gonna have to play excellent, and we’re gonna have to try to find a way to win. As you build wins, then you can build momentum.”