Calvin Pickard getting his first start in nine thousand years (or since November 2019). Troy Stecher is out of the lineup for unspecified reasons but I think he was out there for pregame skate.
First Period
Larkin clanks one off the goalpost early on and it’s already looking like Larkin, Zadina, and Fabbri together will be a winning combination. And again Fabbri and Larkin are in on a 2 on 1 but again just wide and hits the wrong side of the net.
Now Ras goes clank. Everybody needs their contacts adjusted.
How about another near-miss? Namestnikov this time. Can confirm Wings players are awake and trying really hard.
Another near-miss? Not this time. BECAUSE IT WENT IN THE NET! Adam Erne makes it 1-0 Wings with 11:30 left to play.
30 seconds later and pass-pass-go Robby Fabbri makes it 2-0 Wings. Fastest two goals this season for us. Nice to be on this side of it, unlike last game.
Halfway through and it’s time for a Rrrrrrred Wings powerplay! Savard to the Bad Boy Box for tripping. Another penalty sends Jenner to the Crimes Cabana and the Wings get a few seconds of 5 on 3 time. Wings get a few shots off on the powerplay but both penalties are killed.
The Wings are all over the Jackets this period as LGD snaps off a signature backhander that almost gets another one. Pickard just enjoying the view I guess.
5 minutes to go and shots are 15-2 Wings. Yes, you are reading that correctly. 15-2. The entirety of hockey twitter is perplexed.
That’ll do it for the first! One of the best periods we’ve played all season and we skate off with the 2-0 lead.
The Most Dangerous Lead In Hockey.
Second Period
First scoring chance of the period comes from Larkin picking up the puck from his friend and former roommate Werenski in close to the net but another no-go for Larks.
The good and bad news is there hasn’t really been anything to talk about for the first 10 minutes minutes. Shots are 20-7 Wings and score still 2-0. But we do get another goalpost for Larkin. Apparently, NHL stats do track goalposts and this is Larkin’s 6th of the season.
Now we have some bad news. Foligno scores and you can have the most lopsided stats in the world but a 2-1 score is not much difference. 2-1 Wings with 8 minutes to go.
Penalty kill time! 5 minutes left and Fabbri to the Degen Den for tripping. Penalty killed!
And that’s it. Wings lead 2-1 and were not awful but not nearly as good as the first. Larkin’s line with Fabbri and Zadina has been buzzing, not much to fault them on except hitting all the posts.
Third Period
5 minutes in and Larkin and Zadina end up out with Mantha for a little while and Larkin sets the table. 3-1 Wings on a goal from The Big Frenchman. It looked like a save, even Ken Daniels was momentarily fooled, but then the puck was in the net. Love to see it. This feels much better than a one-goal lead, but that’s just one smart person’s expert analysis.
Over halfway and Wings aren’t as good as the first but better than the second. Blue Jackets haven’t put together many scoring chances and luck is on our side when there are loose pucks floating around.
6 minutes to go and Jackets are picking it up as Pickard makes a good save on a wide-open Seth Jones.
Blash doing some line shuffling for Blash reasons. Namestnikov now with Fabbri and Zadina as Larkin was back with Mantha. Wings on their third powerplay of the day as Gavrikov gets called for tripping and goes to the Timeout Terrarium.
Jenner blocks a shot and hobbles to the bench. Ras and Larkin’s Former Roommate get into a little tussle and both are sent to the Enclosure for Evildoers. Erne gets to go as well to serve one of the penalties as Ras gets 2 minutes for interference and 2 minutes for slashing. Werenski gets 2 minutes for cross-checking. We’ll play 1:45 of 4v4 and have successfully killed our own powerplay.
2:45 and Elvis has left the…ice.
Mantha hustles his buns to negate the icing as the puck misses the empty net. Good job by him. Compete-level, hustle, etc.
1 minute to go…
30 seconds…
5…
4…
whatever numbers are after 4
Game over!
RED WINGS WIN!
Back at it tomorrow. Same teams. Same time. Different channel if you’re stuck with NBCSN.