The Detroit Red Wings looked to put together consecutive
wins last night against a lowly Arizona Coyotes in a game that seemed like a
lock. The Coyotes were 1-8-1 in their last 10 and averaging an atrocious 1.97
goals per game. However, the Red Wings were never able to gain a lead and lost
5-4 in overtime to a team merely playing for pride.
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| Courtesy of: Detroit Free Press |
3:08 into overtime, Mark Arcobello was able to score his
second goal of the game picking the bottom left corner on Jimmy Howard. While
the goal was scored on a partial breakaway, it appears that Howard can take
part of the blame on the winning goal as he was unable to cut down the angle on
Arcobello and left about a foot open on the left side. Similar to the games played
on the Florida road trip, the resulting score did not accurately portray the
game that the Red Wings played. In reality, the Red Wings put forth a solid
effort but Arizona was able to capitalize on some bounces and deflections that
allowed them to get the two points.
On the Coyotes’ first goal of the game, Jimmy Howard made
the initial save but during a tangle with John Moore at the net the rebound
ended up going in off of Henrik Zetterberg’s knee and then his stick. These
garbage goals happen and cannot be blamed on any one player.
The second goal by the Coyotes can arguably be placed on the shoulders of the penalty kill unit that has suffered lately (17th in the league at 81%). Mark Arcobello was able to squeeze into the penalty kill box formed by the Red Wings untouched to take a pass and bury his first of the game.
The second goal by the Coyotes can arguably be placed on the shoulders of the penalty kill unit that has suffered lately (17th in the league at 81%). Mark Arcobello was able to squeeze into the penalty kill box formed by the Red Wings untouched to take a pass and bury his first of the game.
David Moss scored the third and fourth goals of the game on deflections
from shots by defencemen. On the third goal Howard was in perfect position to
save the shot from the point by sliding to the right of the cease but after
hitting Moss’ hand the puck soared left and into the net. The fourth- another
power play goal after Justin Abdelkader was called for interference- squeaked
in after Moss was able to just get a tip on the puck to slide it inside the
post.
Three
of the five goals scored by Arizona were scored off deflections and cannot
be blamed on any player from Detroit- even Zetterberg cannot be blamed for
the first goal as he was trying his best to tie up his man. But moving
forward to the post-season it still appears that Detroit can afford to
tighten up their defence, especially on the penalty kill, and not give the
opponent these chances to get a stick on shots and deflect them.
