Red Wings-Hurricanes quick take: Helm, Wings out-hustle the Canes

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to build a modest 2-game winning streak as they faced the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday evening. Carolina had won 3 straight games, and was looking to slide back into one of the Eastern Conference’s Wild Card spots.

The Red Wings did an excellent job of out-playing the Hurricanes for the game’s final 50 minutes, out-scoring Carolina 4-1 and out-hustling the Canes by a substantial margin. Darren Helm had 3 points (1G, 2A), Anthony Mantha had 6 shots, Petr Mrazek had 37 saves and Henrik Zetterberg passed Pavel Datsyuk on the team’s all-time assists list.

Regardless of the team’s playoff fate, it’s good to watch the Wings play such a strong game.

The Hurricanes’ lineup was set save its goaltender on Friday, with the question of Cam Ward starting in back-to-back games answered by the pre-game warm-ups:

The Red Wings’ lineup was set prior to the game:

The Hurricanes started Teuvo Teravainen, Jordan Staal and Sebastien Aho at forward, Brett Pesce and Jaccob Slavin on defense and Scott Darling in goal;

The Red Wings started Tyler Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou at forward, Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley on defense and Petr Mrazek in goal.

Evgeny Romasko and Tom Kowal refereed the game, and Brian Murphy and Shandor Alphonso worked the lines.

The 1st period

1st period observations:

  • Larkin and Staal drew in for the opening faceoff, and Staal won the draw and the Canes skated into Detroit’s zone, where Larkin jammed the puck to Athanasiou, Bertuzzi flipped the puck to Larkin and Detroit chipped and chased, with Larkin getting the first shot only 25 seconds into the first period.
  • Detroit changed while playing strong defense and standing up at its blueline. Regrettably, DeKeyser flubbed a pass to Jensen, and the Canes took over in Detroit’s zone, cycling opposite Mantha, Zetterberg and Nyquist. The Wings’ quintet got a little lucky as the Canes accidentally deflected the puck out of play.
  • 1:08 into the 1st period, Tatar, Nielsen and Helm took a draw at the Wings’ line and won it, skated into the Canes’ zone, and let Kronwall and Green set up an offensive foray into the Hurricanes’ zone.
  • Frk, Glendening and Abdelkader won an offensive zone draw and chipped the puck wide of Darling, surrendering a Canes rush in the process as Ericsson and Daley stifled the Canes’ offense…
  • But Carolina did a fine job of cycling as the Larkin line returned, with Mrazek stopping the first Canes shot about 2:35 into the 1st period.
  • Carolina continued to attack after a neutral zone re-set, but the Wings stood up to block the Canes’ shots, changed, and…
  • Gave up a rush against, but parried the Canes’ pressure.
  • All in all, the Hurricanes owned the puck early, but Detroit’s defense was holding up despite Carolina’s territorial advantage.
  • On a 2-on-2 situation, Victor Rask and Brock McGinn caught a DeKeyser chip-out and Rask passed when he should have shot, trying to set up McGinn for an open-net one-timer instead.
  • Tomas Tatar then got a good rush on Darling, who used his big body to stop an end-to-end rush.
  • Carolina was at least threatening and occasionally dangerous offensively, but they weren’t menacing by any stretch. They just looked like a team that had a first-10-minutes jump from playing the previous evening.
  • The Larkin line was playing a 2-1-2 forecheck when on the defensive side of the puck, and that aggressive play wasn’t paying off…

And Dylan Larkin got tagged for hooking despite having released his stick as he hooked Teuvo Teravainen at 6:19 of the 1st period.

  • At 6:19 of the 1st, Detroit was out-shot 3-2 and out-attempted 9-6.
  • Abdelkader, Glendening, Ericsson and Daley started the PK for Detroit, and they did a good job of forcing the Canes to the perimeter for the most part.
  • Glendening actually rushed into the Canes’ zone and held the puck there for some time.
  • Helm, Nielsen, Jensen and DeKeyser forced the Canes to ice the puck, they kept the Canes on the perimeter and blocked some shots…

But Carolina took the puck and got it to the point, Justin Faulk shot the puck at the net, Lindholm poked at the puck over the crossbar but was held up, and instead, Sebastian Aho tipped the puck into the net behind Petr Mrazek.

Aho scored the 1-0 goal at 8:16 of the 1st, on the power play, from Faulk and Teravainen.

  • On the post-goal shift, Zetterberg had an empty net to shoot at off a Mantha shot, but the puck bounced the wrong way for Detroit for the second time.
  • Abdelkader, Tatar and Nyquist worked together as Blashill engaged the line blender 10 minutes into the 1st period, and they pushed into the Canes’ zone but could not generate a shot.
  • At 10:39 of the 1st period, Detroit was out-shot 6-4 and out-attempted 14-9; Detroit was out-hit 6-5; giveaways were 2-1 Detroit, takeaways 3-2 Carolina (possession changes 5-3 Carolina); blocked shots 5-2 Detroit; faceoffs 7-3 Carolina (30%).
  • Carolina soared into the Wings’ zone after the commercial break, but Lee Stempniak could not score, and Detroit quickly changed lines to bring out the Zetterberg unit.
  • Zetterberg, Nyquist and Mantha found DeKeyser in the slot and he slid a puck to the net, and Mantha jammed it onto the goal line, but Scott Darling’s black pads eclipsed the puck from view.
  • Mrazek was making smart, efficient stops when Carolina threatened, minimizing the impact of what really was a good start for the Hurricanes.
  • Tomas Tatar took a heavy spill in the Canes’ zone, taking a tumble after hitting a rut near the Hurricanes’ red line, and losing his helmet in the process…
  • Luke Glendening then set up a fine scoring chance for the Wings…
  • And Jeff Skinner responded to some chirping by Justin Abdelkader by rushing into the Wings’ zone, where he was stopped by Petr Mrazek.
  • At 14:10 of the 1st, Detroit and Carolina were tied 8-8 in shots, though the attempts were 19-13 Carolina; hits 8-7 Detroit; giveaways 3-3, takeaways 5-3 Carolina (possession changes 8-6 Carolina); blocked shots 6-2 Detroit; faceoffs 8-7 Carolina (47%).
  • When play resumed, Larkin and Bertuzzi did an excellent job of skating up 2-on-2 and working a lateral passing play into a great chance for Bertuzzi, but Darling was up to the task of stopping #59;
  • Andreas Athanasiou also skated away from the flock of Canes’ defenders on a breakaway, only to be stopped by Darling’s blocker.
  • The Wings had really made a game of it as the final 4 minutes of play…

And off a good cycle by Darren Helm, Danny DeKeyser ripped a heavy slapper through traffic and past Darling to tie the game at 1.

 

DeKeyser tied the game 1-1 at 16:21, from Helm and Tatar.

  • Frk, Glendening and Abdelkader worked a strong shift together after the goal…

And Gustav Nyquist was slashed by Staal, breaking his stick in half, so Staal sat at 17:14…

  • But Joakim Nordstrom broke away from the Wings’ power play unit and Mrazek had to stop a breakaway opportunity against instead.
  • So Detroit’s Zetterberg unit worked the puck into the Canes’ zone, where Zetterberg, Mantha, Nyquist, Kronwall and Frk worked the puck to #42 when possible.
  • Carolina did a great job of stick-checking the Wings, despite an excellent shot tip by Mantha in front of Darling.
  • Abdelkader, Helm and Nielsen worked together for the first period’s final shift, and they threatened quite dangerously in the offensive zone.

The 1st period in summary: The Hurricanes came out guns blazing and managed to score the game’s first goal on a strange power play bouncer, but the Red Wings responded strongly and ended the first period in control of the game.

Statistically, Detroit out-shot Carolina 16-13, but Carolina out-attempted Detroit 25-24; hits were 11-8 Detroit; giveaways 4-3 Carolina, takeaways 8-3 Carolina (possession changes 11-7 Carolina); blocked shots 7-4 Detroit; faceoffs 12-9 Carolina (43% for Detroit).

Individually, Mantha led the Wings with 4 shots, and Tatar and Nielsen had 2 apiece; Abdelkader led the Wings with 3 shots, and Nyquist and Mantha had 2 hits; Glendening, Athanasiou and Daley had giveaways; Nyquist, Zetterberg and Larkin had takeaways; 7 different players blocked shots; Zetterberg’s 3-and-1 (75%) faceoff record led the Wings, who were +5; Daley led the Wings with 7:14 played; Green played 6:39, Ericsson 6:35, Kronwall 6:28, Athanasiou 6:01.

FSD had the scoring chances at 6-4 Detroit on their 16-13 shot advantage.

The 2nd period

2nd period observations:

  • Larkin and Staal drew in for the 2nd frame’s opening faceoff and Staal won the draw, Carolina chipped and chased, and Staal found Slavin for a weird bounce off a body that slid just wide of the net in front of Petr Mrazek.
  • Mantha, Nyquist and Zetterberg replaced the Larkin line and worked the puck down low before Carolina took over and skated into the Wings’ zone, and ultimately the Wings iced the puck, resulting in a “long change” after DeKeyser and Jensen cleared the puck.
  • Nielsen, Helm and Tatar played a gritty shift together, and changed at 2:30 of the 2nd period, with Abdelkader, Glendening and Frk joining the fray only briefly; Larkin’s line hopped over the boards 3:10 into the 2nd.
  • Pesce flubbed the puck to Nyquist, who fired a slick little shot off Darling’s toe, and Carolina rushed the other way, but the Wings stood tall, Mantha skated up the ice and sent his 5th shot of the game in on Darling, and Carolina cleared the zone, so Detroit changed lines;
  • Carolina then had a dominant shift against the Nielsen line…

But Darren Helm chugged up the ice going the other way, Helm curled back to Daley and #83 ripped a slap shot over Scott Darling’s glove and into the back of the net.

Daley made it 2-1 at 5:06 from Helm and Tatar.

  • On the post-goal shift, Larkin, Bertuzzi and Athanasiou worked with Ericsson and Daley, and the youngsters did a fine job of firing pucks toward the net, but Carolina was blocking shots like nobody’s business, and the Aho line ultimately played the second half of the shift buzzing in the Wings’ zone.
  • Detroit and Carolina then proceeded to trade chances for the next two minutes, with both Mrazek and Darling making good stops.
  • At 8:22 of the 2nd, shots in the 2nd were tied 6-6 and Detroit led 22-19 overall; attempts 35-34 Carolina; hits 16-11 Detroit; giveaways 4-3 Carolina, takeaways 12-7 Carolina; blocked shots 10-7 Carolina; faceoffs 16-11 Carolina (41%).
  • As play resumed, the teams continued to play at a high pace, trading chances and trading scoring chances at that, with Carolina buzzing in the Wings’ zone when they had possession and control.
  • At 10:39, Carolina out-shot Detroit 7-6 in the 2nd, but was out-shot 22-20 overall; attempts were 38-34 Carolina; hits 16-12 Detroit; giveaways 4-4, takeaways 12-7 Carolina; blocked shots 12-7 Detroit; faceoffs 17-13 Carolina (43%).
  • When play resumed, Niklas Kronwall walked into a one-timer set up by Mantha, but Darling made a big stop;
  • Both teams were crashing and banging with authority, and as Mickey Redmond noted, the Wings had a couple of chances to make it 3-1, but they were unable to convert.
  • Jaccob Slavin snuck into the slot and tipped a pass in on Mrazek thinking that he was going to score a sneaky goal, but Mrazek sniffed out the play and gloved the puck.
  • Mrazek continued to make astute stops as the 2nd progressed…
  • And after Marcus Kruger and Mantha traded some blows sans penalty, Hadyn Fleury grabbed Mantha to keep things from further developing into a full-fledged fight.
  • Gustav Nyquist then accidentally put the puck off his own goalpost trying to stifle a cross-ice Canes pass…
  • Detroit then engaged “grind” mode as Glendening and then Larkin’s lines had two strong, gritty shifts.
  • Bertuzzi also got a glorious goal-scoring chance off a pass from Ericsson that found its way to the top of the crease, but Darling gobbled up the puck on Bertuzzi’s shot.
  • At 17:37, Detroit was out-shot 10-9 in the 2nd but out-shot Carolina 25-23 overall; attempts were 45-38 Carolina; hits 20-15 Detroit; giveaways 4-4, takeaways 13-8 Carolina; blocked shots 13-8 Detroit; faceoffs 21-16 Carolina (43%).

Darren Helm’s stick was hacked out of his hands with 43 seconds remaining in the 2nd period, so Jeff SKinner headed to the box for slashing at 19:17.

  • Mantha, Zetterberg, Nyquist, Frk and Kronwall started the power play, and when Zetterberg was kicked out of the faceoff dot, Mantha lost the draw, but Frk held the puck in and Detroit cycled deep. Zetterberg and Kronwall tried to set up a to-Frk pass, and they were unable to convert until the final second of the period, when Frk blasted a one-timer into Darling’s toe.

The 2nd period in summary: Both the Red Wings and Hurricanes played strong, determined and focused periods of hockey, but the Red Wings were able to capitalize on a superb rush by Helm finished by Daley, and Mrazek was excellent in stopping 11 Hurricanes shots, affording the Wings some breathing room in what was at times a loosey-goosey affair.

Statistically, shots in the 2nd were 11-11, and 27-24 Detroit overall; shot attempts were 47-41 Carolina; hits 21-15 Detroit; giveaways 4-4, takeaways 13-8 Carolina (possession changes 17-12 Carolina); blocked shots 14-8 Detroit; faceoffs 24-16 Carolina (40% for Detroit).

Individually, Mantha led the Wings with 5 shots, Glendening had 4 shots, and Tatar, Frk, Nielsen, Bertuzzi, DeKeyser and Daley had 2 shots; Mantha led the Wings with 6 hits, and Abdelkader and Nyquist had 3 hits; Nyquist and Zetterberg had 2 takeaways apiece; Athanasiou blocked 3 shots, Green and Dekeyser 2; Glendening’s 3-and-3 (50%) faceoff record led the Wings; Detroit was +10; Ericsson led the team with 14:33 played; Daley played 14:13, Kronwall 12:50, DeKeyser 12:34, Green 12:01, Mantha 11:44, Jensen 11:27, Larkin 11:25, Nyquist 11:19, Zetterberg 11:18.

FSD had the scoring chances at 11-9 Detroit on the Wings’ 27-24 shot advantage.

The 3rd period

3rd period observations:

  • The 3rd period began with the Red Wings on the power play for 1:17.
  • Abdelkader, Larkin, Athanasiou, Green and Tatar started the period together, and they actually surrendered a long shot to the Hurricanes and chipped the puck into their own bench over the course of the first 20 seconds of the period.
  • It took the gents until the final 25 seconds of PP time to set up, and they never got a shot through the Canes’ shot-blocking defense.
  • Mantha, Zetterberg, Nyquist, Jensen and DeKeyser took the post-PP shift, and they surrendered an excellent chance to Justin Faulk.
  • With the crowd chanting, “Let’s go Red Wings,” Detroit actually surrendered a couple of scoring chances as they exchanged “looks” with Carolina.
  • Helm got two shots off on Darling in between the Wings’ surrendering of zone time, and the Wings changed lines as best they could.

Tyler Bertuzzi lost his footing at 4:09, and Derek Ryan headed off to the penalty box for “tripping” as a result.

  • It was a bit of a cheap call, but the Red Wings weren’t going to give it back.
  • Detroit lost the initial faceoff, as is customary, and Zetterberg drop passed the puck to Nyquist at center ice, which is customary, and the Wings struggled to gain possession in the offensive zone, as is customary.
  • In other words, the PP looked awful, as usual.
  • Detroit changed units 1:05 into the PP, and Larkin, Athanasiou, Abdelkader, Green and Tatar were at least able to gain possession and control of the puck…
  • But the Wings were chipping pucks in on Darling from a ways out, and they gave him an easy go.
  • Helm, Glendening and Nielsen had a better time in the offensive zone…
  • But they also gave up a rush chance to Teravainen.
  • 7:14 into the 3rd, Detroit was out-shooting Carolina 5-4 in the period and 32-28 on the night; attempts were 53-49 Carolina; hits 21-16 Detroit; giveaways 4-4, takeaways 14-11 Carolina; blocked shots 15-10 Detroit; faceoffs 28-16 (64%) Carolina.
  • When play resumed, Zetterberg made a great swipe of the puck defensively, picking off a Hadyn Fleury shot, he passed the puck to Gustav Nyquist…

And Nyquist raced up with Mantha 2-on-1, chose to keep the puck, and shot it over Darling’s shoulder, yielding the 3-1 goal at 7:45.

Nyquist scored the 3-1 goal from Zetterberg at 7:45 of the 3rd.

  • Zetterberg may have gotten away with some interference by throwing a “pick” on one of the Canes’ retreating defenders, too. That made Carolina very angry.
  • Tatar, Nielsen and Helm had a good post-goal shift as well, as did Glendening’s line, and Frk boomed a one-timer into Darling from some distance.
  • Mantha fired his seventh shot in on Darling and tried to set up Zetterberg for a goal, instead zooming a pass wide of the Wings’ captain.
  • 11 minutes into the 3rd period, Larkin, Bertuzzi and Athanasiou gave up quite the scoring chance to the Canes, affording Mrazek the opportunity to make a sterling save…

And Darren Helm got a tripping penalty at 11:42 of the 3rd, with Tyler Bertuzzi surprisingly not joining Helm when Bertuzzi tussled with van Riemsdyk after the play.

  • Detroit won the opening faceoff and cleared the puck down ice, killing 20 seconds of PP time;
  • Glendening, Larkin, Ericsson and Daley worked together on the PK, and they surrendered a one-timer by Justin Faulk that hit the goalpost…
  • Carolina continued to pressure the Wings’ first PK unit, getting more than a minute’s worth of ice time, but Faulk’s one-timer on the “umbrella” PK was booted away by Mrazek, and the Wings held their own…

And as the penalty expired, Luke Glendening found Darren Helm racing out of the penalty box, Helm skated in on Darling and roofed the 4-1 goal past him.

Darren Helm scored the 4-1 goal, his 3rd point of the night, at 13:48 of the 3rd period, from Glendening.

  • The Red Wings iced the puck on the post-goal shift, but Detroit was able to clear the zone and change.
  • Carolina didn’t give up by any stretch of the imagination, but Helm nearly broke away for a second chance that Hadyn Fleury barely stopped with about 4 minutes remaining in regulation…
  • The Wings still buzzed around the Canes’ net, too, with Nyquist, Mantha and Zetterberg all getting fine chances with 1:45 remaining in regulation;
  • Jensen and Glendening set up Frk for a one-timer that roofed itself off the back boards…
  • And the game wrapped up with an icing call against Detroit with 4.8 remaining in regulation. Detroit won the draw and won the game.

The 3rd period in summary: The Red Wings played an excellent third period, scoring 2 goals and breaking away from the Hurricanes in literal and figurative senses. The Wings played a very strong game for the final 50 minutes thereof, withstanding the Canes’ early push and early goal to really make a foregone conclusion of the game as soon as Daley’s go-ahead goal was scored thanks to strong defensive play and Mrazek’s goaltending. The Wings did give up 37 shots, but they minimized the Canes’ scoring chances and did an excellent job of out-working and out-detailing their opponents.

Statistics:

Here’s the Game Summary

And the Event Summary

Final shot attempts were 68-62 Carolina.

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

3 thoughts on “Red Wings-Hurricanes quick take: Helm, Wings out-hustle the Canes”

  1. man that’s intensity for ya. If would be intense like this every night we wouldn’t be talking about being a seller at TDL.

    We played like it was the playoffs already. Everyone shine except Tatar and Nielsen, both were bad..very bad.

    Just imagine if the guy behind the bench could coach, we’d even be much better. The intensity comes from wearing that logo, not from our Beloved Coach.

    More and more Howard will be the one sacrificed late this month.

  2. Tatar, Nielsen and Helm Great game all +3

    More and more Howard will be the one sacrificed late this month.

    KH still likes His Boys! 2nd Game of Back to Back. who is in Goal. Obviously I like Petr but my Hockey mind says Howard add Coach, who really knows?

  3. Great game by the whole team. I loved how they didn’t sit back as the third progressed. They kept taking it to the Hurricanes and really did an excellent job. Mrazek looked very solid once again. Very enjoyable game.

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