It was a late start for the Red Wings as they faced the Seattle Kraken in game 2 of their 6 game road trip, with a 10PM puck drop that saw us east coast fans watching well past midnight. Detroit, coming off a 6-5 shootout loss to the Columbus Bluejackets found themselves in another punchers’ matchup as the two teams would trade goals and the lead throughout the game almost as many times as my stream crashed watching it. In the end though, it was Patrick “Showtime Kane who shut the lights out, scoring the game winning goal late in the third period.
The Red Wings, in somewhat of a rarity, threw the first punch with a rare goal in the opening frame for the team. Emmitt Finnie scored off an all rookie combination on Detroit’s second power play unit to put the Red Wings up 1-0. Rookies Nate Danielson (who briefly exited the game with a foot injury in the second period vs the Kraken) and Axel Sandin-Pellikka tallied points for the assists. However, Brad Montour would tie the game up before the end of the first period.
Can these Octopi Change their Spots?
The second period was once more a battleground for the Red Wings. In what’s becoming something of a concerning pattern, the Red Wings scored one goal only to give up one on the other end what feels like moments later.
In this case, Andrew Copp managed to tuck one in behind Joey Daccord’s skate and then jar it loose and over the line to give the Red Wings the lead 5:10 into the second. At 6:44, Adam Larsson rifled one in past John Gibson, who had been performing well to that point. It seems that any lead the Red Wings hold lately (if they aren’t playing from behind already) is tenuous at best.
The Kraken got their first lead of the game when Lance Stephenson fired one in from the blue line, ricocheting the puck off Gibson’s mask. James van Riemsdyk, who has 5 goals in the past six games, managed to get the Red Wings back in the game before the end of the period with a goal with just under 30 seconds left.
Detroit seems to be playing with fire every game, and while no lead is ever truly “safe,” the Red Wings make it feel like a coin flip of whether or not they’ll keep the lead for more than two minutes instead of the rest of the game sometimes. Right now, they just aren’t playing playoff hockey.
Showtime Shows Up
Kane, who has just recently become the top American born player on the NHL’s all time points list, added another goal to pull the Red Wings ahead of the Kraken 4-3 with two and a half minutes left in the game. Though sidelined by injury earlier in the season, Kane now seems to be finding his footing and has been playing at a point-per-game pace in the last 10. The Red Wings will need more out of him and the rest of their lines if they want to continue winning, however.