Vrana and Zadina in. Berggren out. Raymond out but expected to be ready for Saturday.
First Period
Perron gets an early scoring chance with some hard work from Ras but Halak is in the right spot. A goofy delay of game penalty as Sunny tries to keep the puck in and gets a piece but not enough. Hronek in the Bad Boy Box. Penalty kill time! Puck is in our zone for over a minute but the PK and Husso sticks with it. Penalty killed.
The call was…unclear.
Just over halfway through and shots are 7-6 Wings, a couple dangerous chances for both sides. Rangers have a slight edge based purely on the eye test. The Wings will connect tic and tac but not toe. The third line is playing particularly well. First line quiet so far.
Seider gets blatantly hi-sticked, no penalty.
Perron to Ras with a nice setup for Copp and he SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!! 1-0 Wings with 4:30 to go.
Timely defense by Vrana to keep it a 1-0 game.
Good Guy Larkin after laying down a hit on Lindgren, sees him stumble from the skate blade falling off, and catches him so he won’t fall. Lady Byng worthy.
Second Period
Weird/bad icing call leads to a faceoff at center ice. Both coaches are mad. Otherwise the first 5 minutes have been fairly quiet, but still leaning Rangers.
Trocheck scores 🙁 tie game. Hagg set it up beautifully by being a disaster on ice with the giveaway.
But we get it back! Larkin swipes the puck and Zadina SCOOOOOOOOOORES! 2-1 Wings. That’s a point for Larks.
obligatory HUUUUUSSSSSSS
Ras gets cross-checked in the face. Same as Larkin did, but it looked more on purpose and then he and Ras were ready to fight about it. The refs are huddling for a long time. Newsy was flashing the five at them.
It’s a 2-minute penalty. For the same thing that got Larkin kicked out. Consistency? Where? Lindgren in the Shithead Stall. Powerplay time but nothing for it.
You be the judge:
Wings crumbling with 3 minutes to go, Husso bailing them out. What if we didn’t turn the puck over? Just a wild idea.
THERE’S A MOOSE IN THE HOOSE! REVENGE! Big save on Perron gets Halak way out of place, Perron gets the puck back to Ras and into the net. 3-1 Wings with 2 minutes left.
The round glass by the Rangers bench has a big hole in it. They end up waiting for the Wings crew to install the replacement. Mick thought they should just call it and add 2 minutes to the 3rd. But instead, an 8-minute delay and we finish it off.
Third Period
Still doing the “let’s give away the puck” game, a bold strategy by the Wings. Rangers take a penalty as Hronek rushes down the ice by their bench. Time for a Rrrrrred Wings powerplay! Lafreniere in the Crimes Cabana to serve the Jiri Hudler Memorial Bench Minor for Too Much Man. Wings take a lot of time getting set up including almost giving up a shorty but it pays off. Hronek snipe from the blue line with Sunny blocking the view. Hronek SCOOOOOOOORES! 4-1 Wings. Powerplay goal.
Rangers wheels falling off now, Motte is in the Loser Locker now. Another Rrrrrred Wings powerplay! Good movement by the Wings this time but no goals.
We have a brawl, which is only surprising it didn’t happen earlier. Ras gives a hit, then gets cross-checked in retaliation by Fox, and ends up at the bottom of the dogpile as Zadina comes flying in like a little angelic missile of vengeance. Why a fox would attack a moose…
Somehow this ends up with the Rangers on the powerplay as Ras gets two penalties, one for charging and one for roughing. Fox gets a cross-checking penalty. Ras and Perron sit together in the Timeout Terrarium as Fox is in the Loser Locker. Penalty kill time!
FIGHT. Walman vs. Lafreniere after Walman lays a hit on Trocheck. It’s more aggressive hugging than punching as Lafreniere is all caught up in his jersey.
Walman joins the gang in the aforementioned Timeout Terrarium. Lafreniere gets the two penalties this time so he and Chytil are with Fox in the Loser Locker. Penalty killed, now we get some powerplay time. All penalties killed.
3 minutes to go…
2 minutes…
1 minute…