And with the Wings scoring three goals only once in their previous eight games, the reaction to the win in the dressing room afterward was happy relief, and perhaps a sense that things are coming together.
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“We were practicing that on the power play and it’s nice to see when the plans work”, Tatar said. In the second period, Mike Green pinched down from the point to grab a clearing attempt away from Los Angeles defenseman Jamie McBain and bury it, and then Dylan Larkin drove an Abdelkader rebound into the net for the eventual game victor.
The 13-year Red Wing veteran set up the breakout and Justin Abdelkader for a attractive one-timer, but when the puck bounced off Kings goaltender Jhonas Enroth, Larkin was in the flawless position for the rebound and got himself a sweet garbage goal. “You get to play with a centre man like that, hopefully we can figure something out there”. The Kings look like a team ready to get back to the playoffs and make a statement once they get there and while they have lost a few pieces from their last Cup roster they still have a large portion of that group intact and will be looking for a deep run in the Western Conference playoffs this season.
Just more than two minutes later, Larkin scored and the Red Wings had a 3-1 lead.
He returned and finished the game.
“Yeah, I just kind of followed in there, seeing that it was a loose puck, and their guy kind of whacked it right to me, and I was able to put it in”, Green said.
“We battled there in the crease”, Tatar said. Jonathan Quick gets the call between the pipes here as he will go up against Petr Mrazek who earned a shut out his last time between the pipes. “We tried to stand in their for net front presence, waiting for bounces of pucks, second and third chances”.
The Red Wings had a chance to increase their lead 2 minutes later when Drew Doughty took a tripping penalty, but a turnover led to Carter scoring on a breakaway to tie the game.
Petr gave up a bad goal there, but the impressive thing about him is that he has no memory, Blashill said. Thats something a goalie needs..
Doughty hit the post with 5 minutes left in the second, and the game remained 3-2 going into the third.
35 – Saves Petr Mrazek made in running his record to 6-4-1. Milan Lucic missed a tip-in with 20 seconds left, and the Red Wings blocked three shots in the final 10 seconds. He just played a great game.. There had to be three or four, but they had so many guys in front that I couldnt see anything.. He left briefly in the third period after a fluke incident.
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“We threw a lot of rubber at him”, Anze Kopitar said. The Kings were playing the second of a five-game trip, which began with a 3-2 shootout win against Philadelphia on Tuesday night….
