by Mike Whitaker
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings entered Tuesday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks in need of a win and to improve their power play. While they achieved success on the latter, the former didn’t come to fruition, and it was another aspect of their special teams that let them down – the penalty kill.
Two early third period power play goals by the Canucks erased what had been a 2-0 Red Wings lead en route to a 5-2 triumph at Little Caesars Arena. It was Vancouver’s second win over Detroit in a week’s time, and the fifth consecutive setback for the home team.
“We’ll work on it,” head coach Jeff Blashill said about the penalty kill, “but you can’t give up that many power play opportunities.”
Canucks captain Bo Horvat tallied both of Vancouver’s power play goals less than two minutes apart early in the third period; Jake Virtanen and Tim Schaller would also add goals.
Anthony Mantha (7th goal) and Dennis Cholowski (1st goal) both scored for the Red Wings, who dropped to 3-6 on the season after starting 3-1. A team’s ebbs and flows in a season can usually ride on the success of their special teams, and for Detroit, that area must improve.
“We give them two power play goals which we can’t allow – as a penalty killer, I take responsibility,” said Justin Abdelkader. “We have to make sure that we’re all sacrificing, blocking shots. That gave them the momentum.”
The Red Wings will have a chance to get back into the win column immediately with a Wednesday night matchup against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian TireCentre in the Canadian capitol city.
