The New York Islanders visited the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night. A chance for the Red Wings to keep their win streak alive. These Eastern Conference enemies met for the first time this season in Detroit. New York came in struggling their past several, only having one win in their last 10 games. They’ve quickly fallen to last in the Metropolitan Division. Detroit on the other hand is on a nice 4 game win streak and is looking very confident. Currently positioned in the top wild card spot for the Eastern Conference. Could the Islanders find their game and get back in the win column? Or would the Red Wings continue rolling and bringing in the points?

Period One

New York has had their fair share of issues the past few games and came into this game with some aggression. Their physicality set the tempo at the start. Of course, with aggression comes penalties oftentimes. That doesn’t matter when your penalty kill scores. Cal Clutterbuck sped into the zone across the crease and slid it in to give the Islanders the early lead. Detroit answered quickly after when Filip Hronek’s shot from the point found the top corner. That goal got them buzzing and a few minutes later Sam Gagner flicked it off Ilya Sorokin’s back and in to give the Red Wings the lead. It looked like the scoring was going to continue, Islanders took back to back penalties but killed of the 2 man advantage and then the remainder of the second penalty. Detroit lead 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Period Two

After an exciting first period, the second started rather tame. It wasn’t until halfway through that the Islanders were able to tie up the game. After serving 17 minutes for penalties through nearly all the first and a portion of the second, Oliver Wahlstrom came back and scored a power-play goal. Their aggressive forecheck created issues for Detroit. Giovani Smith had an answer for Detroit though and stepped up single handedly to give them their lead back. After 40 minutes Detroit still lead by one.

Period Three

With just 20 minutes to play both teams began to up the pressure. After killing off one power play, the Red Wings were unable to kill off the second one they gave up. The game was tied up by Wahlstorm’s shot from the point. After that, neither team could find the back of the net. After a full 60 minutes they were tied up and headed to overtime.

Overtime

For the five minutes of 3 on 3 play, Detroit really controlled play for the first half of it. The Islanders caused a turnover in their offensive zone and turned the momentum to their side. This lead to a few decent shots but Alex Nedeljkovic was able to deflect them all. Time was dwindling down when the rookie Moe Seider for Detroit fired a one-timer to win the game for the home team. 4-3 victory for the Red Wings.

Takeaways

Detroit’s special teams cost them an easy win in this game. Their normally strong penalty kill allowed 2 goals on 3 tries against the statistically weakest power play team. The other goal they gave up was a short handed when Clutterbuck got one on one with a forward rather than a defenseman. Big errors lead to the 3 goals allowed. Outside of that the game was solid on all fronts. Nedeljkovic was strong in net. Offense was rather productive. Even the non typical players got on the score sheets to show that even if their stars are not putting it together they have some depth. They now wait at home for the arrival of the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

The New York Islanders played desperately and made some great during the game. Being their second game back from their COVID break from playing they started to connect better. Their first short-handed goal of the season really got the ball rolling for them. Their offense found a way to do something they’ve struggled all season, score on the powerplay and score multiple times in one game. Battling through injuries and COVID outbreak in the locker room has made it real difficult on the team. They played well against a red hot team, and should be happy with a point. They now head home too face the Chicago Blackhawks tomorrow.

Follow us on Twitter!

Check out our shop!