In a chippy, physical game, the visiting Panthers offer the Red Wings a lesson in the intensity and emotion of playoff hockey
In a chippy, physical game, the visiting Panthers offer the Red Wings a lesson in the intensity and emotion of playoff hockey
Detroit, MI—On Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena, the Florida Panthers—last year's Eastern Conference champions and presently sitting atop the NHL table—offered the Red Wings a lesson in the intensity of playoff hockey via a 4-0 shutout victory on the road.
The game's opening period was a scoreless, tight-checking affair. The two sides combined for just two shots in the first ten minutes of play, with neither team affording the other any room to work off the rush whatsoever and both demonstrating a fervent commitment to blocking shots. Both teams also showed a clear willingness to extend the game's action into post-whistle scrums that became a norm for the evening within a few minutes of puck drop.
As the game progressed on into the second, play opened up, and both sides enjoyed more abundant offensive opportunities. The period also saw Florida distinguish itself from its hosts through effective work on both special teams.
"Early in the second, we have two power play looks," said Derek Lalonde in his post-game remarks. "We have some looks, we don't score, they score on the next shift, so there's momentum there. Then obviously, they score on their power play, so we find ourselves down 2-0 after two. That's a really good team. The margin for error is very thin. They don't give up a bunch five-on-five...We need to be really precise on special teams, and we were not."
The first goal came from Brandon Montour, with the high-scoring defenseman jumping into the rush to bury the rebound of an Evan Rodrigues chance from in tight. The second saw Sam Reinhart finish off a pretty passing sequence and Aleksander Barkov feed from the slot. A fracas emerged from the ensuing celebration after Matthew Tkachuk cross-checked Ben Chiarot.
"I think their second goal kinda took the wind out of our sails," said Andrew Copp. "You saw them in the playoffs last year. They can suffocate you, and their goalie's good, they got big D, tough to get to the front of the net on, so I think that's when they're successful."
As each period passed, the antipathy between the two teams continued to mount. In the first, they combined for eight penalty minutes; in the second, 14; and in the third, 48. As that process progressed, Detroit only found itself in a deeper hole.
"That's a playoff-type game right there," said Copp. "At least we viewed it as such, and those scrums and everything, they happen in the playoffs...If you really are pissed, need to get some skin, get 'em in Game 2, get 'em in Game 3, get 'em in the first period of the next game. The games, the intensity—it's too important to let your emotions take over and take a costly penalty."
"You gotta make sure that if you're going, you're gonna take the other guy with you," he continued. "There was a couple times where they took both, there was a few times where they just took one. A lot of times it's the retaliation."
The second closed at 2-0 Panthers, and in truth, the Red Wings hadn't played poorly. They'd had a few good looks at net at five-on-five (most notably a Patrick Kane breakaway bid, set up by Alex DeBrincat artfully corralling a bouncing puck to send a lead pass for Kane, ushering his running mate into the offensive zone), and, though perhaps Detroit was a bit hard done by the referees' attempts at game management, power play chances came.
However, none of those opportunities came to fruition, and by the third, the Red Wings—who had looked a worthy adversary if an underdog to Florida throughout the first two periods—seemed to simultaneously lose control of their emotions and with it their path back into the game.
Rodrigues struck for a second time just four minutes and 39 seconds into the third, and with that goal, the game was all but over. Detroit's only pushback for the remaining 15 minutes and change of hockey came in the form of accruing more penalty minutes. With just under seven minutes to play, Carter Verhaeghe added another power play goal, but by that point, there wasn't much left to compete for anyway.
Lalonde downplayed the impact of the post-whistle skirmishes that abounded throughout the game, but he did acknowledge "they're a team that plays on the edge; they're a team that plays with edge; you gotta have a little push back, or it'll be a long night." For his part, Copp pointed out that while the performance and result were both disappointing in their own ways, there could be one positive to take away: "Obviously tonight wasn't our best, but I'd rather learn this lesson now than have to learn it in Game 1 and 2 of the playoffs."
Meanwhile, Lalonde kept his focus on the path forward from Saturday's defeat, saying, "The biggest thing to staying [in the playoff chase] is stopping these momentum slides. We lost the first two games on the [most recent] West Coast road trip and found a way to get back on it...We knew this would be a tough stretch. We're in the hole a little bit. And if you wanna stay in this battle, it's how you get out of these holes."
The Red Wings won't play again until Wednesday evening, but there will be another Cup-contending opponent waiting for them, with Detroit traveling to Colorado to take on the Avalanche.
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