Bottom Six Sets Standard as Red Wings Snap Losing Skid
On Saturday, Detroit's third and fourth line provided the relentless work rate and confidence needed to snap the Red Wings out of their skid for a desperately needed win on home ice
Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports - Bottom Six Sets Standard as Red Wings Snap Losing SkidDetroit, MI—"Once we went up 2-1 we knew we were gonna win that game, just on how we felt and everybody working," said Christian Fischer when the dust had settled on the Red Wings' 4-1 win over the visiting Buffalo Sabres.
That confidence might sound unlikely or even misguided from a team that had lost seven on the hop entering the afternoon, but it was more than just hope. Instead, it was a confidence born of an unrelenting work rate that filtered up from the Red Wings' bottom six and through the rest of the lineup.
Heading into the afternoon's game, the depth Detroit had touted all season appeared in question given the team's malaise since captain Dylan Larkin went down with an injury five games (and five regulation losses) ago, but on Saturday, it was the Red Wings' depth that powered them out of what had seemed an interminable losing streak.
In the first period, Detroit's best line was its fourth, manned by Robby Fabbri, Daniel Sprong, and Austin Czarnik. The trio created chances in different ways—off the rush, off the cycle, via the forecheck—and, more importantly, it made sure that the game didn't spiral the way it had two nights earlier after the Red Wings conceded the game's first goal in the first period.
By the end of the first, Detroit trailed by one, but in the second, the third line of Fischer, Andrew Copp, and Michael Rasmussen set the tone for the Red Wings to flip the game's script and take an overwhelming territorial advantage through an insatiable appetite on the forecheck.
Five minutes and 35 seconds into the period, the line found a rewarded for its efforts when Fischer—falling to a knee, then dropping further to his hip—tucked home an equalizing goal at the end of another extended stay into the offensive zone thanks to their effort on the forecheck.
"Just [a] bad skater. I don't think he even tripped me," Fischer said with a smile when asked about the goal. "Obviously a big goal for our team at the time. Just a standard goal with me, Copp, and Ras. Our type of goal—to the net, cycles, that type of stuff."
"The Fish goal got us going," said coach Derek Lalonde. "We kept so many O zone pucks alive by getting on top and giving them no space. You're playing a team like that, your best defense can start in the O zone." "The guys love Christian," he added. "He plays the right way. Obviously, they had the Thompson assignment tonight, and their job was not to get scored, and for them to get a goal the way they did—second effort, zone time, below the goal line—[was] very up-lifting."
To that point, Fischer and company went head-to-head with the Buffalo top line of Tage Thompson, Zemgus Girgensons, and Alex Tuch all evening, and they held their opposition to just two combined shots on goal.
"Newsy grabbed us three before the game and said that we were gonna match-up the whole night with them," said Fischer, before explaining that all three players relished the opportunity presented by the challenge. "Us three, we play a very rugged, north-south type of hockey game. We love that stuff. I can speak for the other two: we want the big match-up every night. I think that's just the way we are as players. To shut down the top guys, the statistics speak for themselves."
Fischer, Copp, and Rasmussen's efforts proved infectious later in the period, when Detroit's top line scored to provide the team its first lead in more than a week with just under three minutes to play in the second. That goal came from yet more forechecking and a sprawling, full extension effort from J.T. Compher to tee up a Patrick Kane one-timer.
In the third, the Red Wings' adopted a slightly different approach. Instead of the all-out aggression of the second, Detroit sat back a bit more and dedicating its efforts to denying the Sabres the offensive blue line. The effect was another overwhelming territorial advantage for the home side, with Buffalo unable to find controlled entries and the Red Wings forcing the puck again and again deep into the Sabre third of the rink. "I don't know if we gave up two chances the entire third," noted Lalonde.
Within that context, Detroit's bottom six found a way to reaffirm its command of the afternoon's game when Daniel Sprong caught Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen derelict in his defense of the post with a perfectly placed shot from what should have been a low-danger area along the wall. The goal gave the Red Wings a 3-1 lead with the clock showing 6:08 to play.
"The goal is great, but he did some other things away from the puck, which was a positive," said Lalonde when asked about Sprong's performance. "That was a very good line for us tonight. We got into some issues on the road where we couldn't play the fourth line. They gave up a ton of goals; they were getting pinned. It was a huge positive for us tonight."
The end result was a cathartic 4-1 victory Detroit desperately needed and renewed playoff life. With the win and a simultaneous overtime loss from the Islanders, the Red Wings snuck back into the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Detroit's slide stopped, the playoff dreams can resume, and it was the bottom six that paved the path to achieving both those ends.
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