Game Notes: Red Wings Weather Storm, Beat Cup Champs in Florida

The Detroit Red Wings scored a 5–2 victory over the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers with a quintessential display of winning road hockey. The Red Wings had to absorb heavy pressure early and again late, but, thanks to a power play that somehow keeps getting hotter, found a way to win anyway.

The Game in One Quote

“The task was very difficult. I think that was evident, that they are the champs for a reason. We needed outstanding goaltending, we needed a special team to get hot, and we found a way to scrap our way to a win.” -Red Wings coach Todd McLellan

Detroit was much closer to opportunistic than dominant Thursday night at Amerant Bank Arena, but the Red Wings found a winning formula nonetheless. They only managed to put 20 shots on goal, while allowing 43 to their hosts. It took another sizzling night on the power play, 41 saves from Cam Talbot, and another 21 blocked shots, but it added up to a win over the defending champs.

If there was one nit to pick with Detroit’s recent seven-game winning streak, it concerns quality of competition. The same quibble cannot apply to Thursday’s victory. As McLellan pointed out, it’s not just that the Panthers are the Cup champions, it’s that they played like it. After sputtering Tuesday night against the Sharks, the Red Wings confidence ought to hit a new zenith coming out of Thursday’s win in which they grew better and more comfortable as the game wore on.

Numbers to Know: 3 & 4

It was a fascinating night to watch the Red Wings work on the power play. Detroit scored three goals, despite only creating four scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. When the night began, it looked as though Florida’s penalty kill had the upper hand. The Panthers were stout in defense of the blue line and aggressive when the Red Wings did break through and gain the offensive zone

On Detroit’s first power play of the night, the top unit hardly got set up in formation at all. However, with 24 seconds left in an Evan Rodrigues tripping minor, Jonatan Berggren beat Sergei Bobrovsky on a chance that didn’t appear all that dangerous.

It must be said that one ingredient in the Red Wings’ PP efficiency Thursday was an off night for the for the two-time Vezina Trophy winner. Cats coach Paul Maurice lifted Bobrovsky for Spencer Knight after Marco Kasper scored Detroit’s fourth goal of the night (the only one at five-on-five) on another chance that looked harmless off the stick.

Nonetheless, as the night went on, the Red Wings only built confidence on the man advantage. After an unsuccessful try early in the second, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane set Dylan Larkin up for a tap-in at the back post. It wasn’t the prettiest passing sequence but it was quick, and it showed Detroit exploiting the Panthers’ aggression, with an assertive cut to the slot off a clean entry by DeBrincat and then a swift cross-ice pass back from Kane for Larkin forcing Florida into a scramble then taking advantage.

The third PPG of the night was another Bobrovsky likely wants back, this time for Kane. Like the first, it came on a play where Florida looked to be in sound defensive positions, and Kane wasn’t shooting from a premium location, nor had Lucas Raymond’s set-up caught the goaltender out of position. However, perhaps due to an inadvertent screen from Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling, Bobrovsky couldn’t pick up Kane’s wrister.

To the Red Wings credit, while the chance itself was nothing special, it came at the end of a power play in which the top unit had spent nearly the full two minutes in the offensive zone attacking. That unit relieved pressure with its passing and retrieved pucks when it had to in order to sustain that stay and eventually earn a reward for the effort.

Detroit struggled to create chances at five-on-five for a lot of the night, but thanks to a power play that refuses to cool off, the Red Wings had all the offense they’d need to win in South Florida.

Observations

Cats Open with Championship Punch

In the first period, Florida overwhelmed its guests at even strength. As McLellan noted above, it showed off the best of their Cup-winning game from last spring. At their best, the Panthers are capable of almost obscuring which line is on the ice, because no matter who it is, the game looks the same: simple heavy forechecking and smothering defense force play to the Florida offensive zone, where it tends to remain.

Of course stars like Aleksander Barkov (robbed of the Conn Smythe last spring, but that’s a conversation for another day) or Matthew Tkachuk or Gustav Forsling find ways and moments to stand out, but what made this a championship team is a collective relentlessness in wearing down opponents with their legs and their body checks. There is no more difficult team in the league to exit the defensive zone against.

Perhaps the most impressive start from the Panthers was the way they refused to allow Berggren’s power play goal to derail their efforts. After Berggren scored, Florida drove the game right back to the Red Wings zone, and in just over two minutes, Anton Lundell tied the game.

However, from a Red Wings perspective, the Cats’ early control is not a blemish so much as a battle scar. Detroit absorbed Florida playing the exact game it wanted early and came out of the first even anyway. Having eaten that preliminary blow and emerged no worse for the wear, the Red Wings set about taking control with their power play in the second on the way to victory.

Response Goals

Lundell’s answer to Berggren wasn’t the only time Florida immediately stemmed Red Wing momentum. After Larkin’s go-ahead power play goal in the second, Evan Rodrigues countered in less than 30 seconds. Those two hasty rebuttals come in the immediate aftermath of a third period against San Jose in which Detroit allowed the Sharks to score within two minutes of each of its two third period goals, putting a major damper on the Red Wings’ comeback effort.

Four ‘response’ goals against in not even three periods feels like a big enough sample to be more than pure anomaly. McLellan has mentioned a few times that his team is prone to wobbles over the course of games, not quite able to keep the gas pedal down for 60 minutes.

In today’s NHL, you can never expect to sustain 60 dominant minutes against anybody, much less the reigning champs. However, those answer goals come across a bit like a reminder that the revitalization under McLellan hasn’t smoothed over all Detroit’s vulnerabilities.

That trend of quick counters against is one the Red Wings will look to cut out in a hurry, but as McLellan told reporters after the game, “Sometimes it’s easier to learn when you win than when you lose.”