First period: The wings started the Franzen, Weiss, Alfredsson line hoping to get the second line going offensively but it was Abdelkader and Zetterberg who hooked up for the first scoring chance of the game as Zetterberg was alone on the near boards at the blue line and broke in on Phoenix goalie Mike Smith and hit the crossbar on the forehand, as the puck bounced into the stands. Phoenix controlled most of the play in the first ten minutes of the first period, winning nearly every face-off in the offensive zone and blasting pucks on net from the point on multiple trips down the ice. Derek Morris scored on one of the shots, as it went through a crowd of players legs and past Howard to the far post and into the net. The next face-off in Detroit's zone was won by the Coyotes and the puck rang off the crossbar from the point and the Wings narrowly avoided going down 2-0. Datsyuk put the moves on the Coyotes defenses, crossing over inside then outside and looked to have a shooting opportunity but passed across to Abdelkader who was stopped by Smith. Phoenix continued to throw pucks at the net from the point as the Coyotes won 20 of 27 face-offs in the first period. Abdelkader and Kyle Chipchura got a little chippy after the whistle at center ice and it led to matching minors and a 4-on-4 but neither team was able to score with the extra open ice. The Wings had the next scoring chance as Dan Cleary skated up the right wing and flipped a back handed centering pass to Stephen Weiss. The puck got underneath the pads of smith and the Red Wings forwards jammed away but the officials ruled the whistled was blown and the puck had not crossed the line. Datsyuk again raced up the middle and as he tried to split two defenders, he drew a penalty to put the Wings on the power play. It was short lived however as Franzen was whistled for hooking just 15 seconds into the man advantage, so we went back to 4-on-4 with 2:31 left in the period. The play was up and down the ice the rest of the period but no real chances emerged the rest of the period as Phoenix took the 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Second Period:
Kyle Quincey started the second period off with a diving defensive play to knock the puck away from Mikkel Boedker who would have had a wide open scoring chance in front of the Detroit net. Drew Miller followed that up with a great chance as he skated across the blue line and let go of a wrist shot that bounced off Smith's shoulder. Kindl then took the puck up the right wing and flipped the it to a hard charging Cleary in front of the net, the puck bounced off Smith and Andersson slammed home the rebound top shelf to tie the game at 1. Just 53 seconds later, Jonathan Eriksson held the puck in at the point and threw it at the front of the net where Abdelkader was standing alone for the redirection, but he missed the puck all together. However, the distraction was enough to fool Smith as the puck sailed passed him for a 2-1 Detroit lead. the lead was short lived as Phoenix came right back a minute later and off a deflection in front of Howard, the puck squirted free to Boedker and he patiently waited for Howard to sprawl to the ice, found the open side of the net and tied the game at 2. Play was fast and furious with no stoppages for over seven minutes as the Wings had two point blank scoring chances from the Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Abdelkader line. First Datsyuk took the puck up the right boards and fought off a defender all the way to the end line before centering the puck across the front of the crease to a wide open Abdelkader who was absolutely stoned by Smith. On their next shift, Datsyuk passed to Zetterberg at the blue line next to bench, he sent the puck across the zone to a streaking Abdelkader who passed back to Datsyuk and the puck went underneath smith but just wide of the far post. DeKeyser made a great defensive play on a wrap around attempt, knocking the puck off the stick of Vrbata before he could put it into the wide open net, keeping the game 2-2 at the end of the second period.
Third Period:
The first 5 minutes of the third period were up and down the ice but no team really created any scoring opportunities until the Coyotes had a 4 on 2 but failed to move the puck and settled for a fairly easy save by Jimmy Howard on Lauri Korpikoski . Phoenix had another odd man rush but Andersson hustled back to negate the 2-on-1 and the centering pass sailed harmlessly to the corner. The Wings got their offense going as abdelkader missed just wide of the net glove side from the right circle after a Coyotes give away in their own zone. Weiss, Franzen, and Alfredsson had a beautiful break out passing play that led to a wide open chance for Daniel Alfredsson who is still looking for his first goal with his new team, but Smith was up to the task with a big right pad save. Detroit got its first full power play with 12:06 left in the third as Kindl was tripped behind his own net, but the Wings failed to get set up in the offensive zone until there was only 30 seconds left on the man advantage, and managed only one shot from Zetterberg. That shot hit smith on the left wrist and he was visibly hurting the rest of the game. Phoenix went on the power play with just under 7 minutes remaining as Weiss was called for hooking in the offensive zone. Andersson broke his stick on the penalty kill but Howard made a congested save on a wrist shot and held on to stop play. The Wings technically killed off the penalty but before Weiss could get out of the box and back into the play, Michael Stone's slap shot from the right point sailed past a screened Howard and off the far goal post and into the net for a 3-2 Coyotes lead. The Wings didn't really create any significant chances the rest of the way, even as they pulled Howard they couldn't keep the puck in the Coyotes zone and Phoenix would add the empty net goal to put the game away 4-2.
Game notes:
- Shots: Detroit 30, Phoenix 38.
- Face-offs won: Detroit 24, Phoenix 46.
- Detroit has allowed 75 shots against their last two games, both losses, compared to just 45 in their first two wins. it feels like the wings don't have that same aggressiveness on defense right now to close down time and space, they are sitting back and waiting for things to happen.
- Phoenix had lost their last two games by a combined score of 10-2, they held a players only meeting and they sure came out with energy and fire tonight.
- Detroit's power play is now 0-10 on the season.
- Abdelkader had another 5 hits, leading the team for the 4th game in a row this season.
- The Franzen, Weiss, Alfredsson line was on the ice for each of the Coyotes 4 goals.
Up next: The Wings host Philadelphia Saturday night, looking to end their two game skid.
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