The tides definitely turned tonight in the second period at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit yesterday night. After the score was 1-1 going into the second, the Detroit Red Wings blasted off and won the game with a strong performance in the last two periods. As they say, you win the third period then you win the game and let’s just say, Matt Murray hasn’t been his normal self as he's coming back from injury finishing with a record of 0-2-1 since his return.
This game started quick, as Sidney Crosby put a one time shot over the glove of lunging goalie Jimmy Howard to give the Penguins the 1-0 lead only 40 seconds into the game. Darren Helm was on the side of Matt Murray’s net and instead of shooting, he passes the puck to Nicklas Kronwall in front of the net who will put it past Murray’s glove. Early in the second, Crosby puts the puck off the post and it actually looked like it was over the line, but the referees called no goal on the shot. Jamie Oleksiak managed to get a stick up high, and get a penalty to give Detroit a power play. Martin Frk was standing in the right circle in front of Murray as he made a cross crease pass to Frans Nielson who put the puck top shelf giving the Red Wings the lead. Nick Jensen then shot a slapper from the blue line, and Luke Glendening stomped in front getting behind defender Brian Dumolin when Luke somehow got the puck under Murray, and into the back of the net, making it 3-1.
To the third period we go. This time, Larkin is to the side of the net, and he gives a pass to Helm who beats Murray in front on his glove side, 4-1. The Penguins pulled Murray, and Letang wound up a knocking a slapper past Howard even if it was a little bit too late, making it 4-2. As little as they thought they were closer, the Red Wings put the puck in the empty net late to reach the final score of 5-2.