from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,
David Perron’s goal with 2:40 left in regulation time would snap a 2-2 tie, propelling the Red Wings to a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The outcome brought a halt to Detroit’s 0-2-2 losing skid during this five-game road trip.
“None bigger goal than DP’s goal at the end and he’s been in the battle the whole season, he always is,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin told Bally Sports Detroit. “For him to score the big one, it was just a veteran player that knows how to play in these big games.”...
More significantly, the outcome is leaving Detroit and Washington in a deadlock for the final Eastern Conference wild card playoff spot. Each team has 82 points. However, the Capitals (73 games) hold two games in hand on the Red Wings and the first tiebreaker. Washington has 28 regulation wins, compared to 26 for Detroit....
“We’ve been playing really good team hockey recently,” Perron said. “Obviously, we know how many points we need to keep advancing, being in the fight. I’ve liked our recent play. We just gotta keep pushing, keep getting points.”
Elsewhere Monday, the Philadelphia Flyers were losing 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders. The OT point was enough to move Philly (83 points) back into third spot in the Metropolitan Division, ahead of the Capitals. But the Flyers have played 76 games....
At the other end of the spectrum, fourth-line center Joe Veleno played just 4:42.
“Veleno, just kind of ran into some matchup issues, some special teams, we used him late a couple times,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said....
“Ras left with an upper body,” Lalonde said. “Don’t know much more about it.”
Time to end the Veleno experiment.
I think he showed growth this year, and I'm not sure I would part with one of the fastest players on a slow team......
Always better replacements for sure. His salary is not bad, but need better for 4th line shutdown, eh?
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
"For me, it was very satisfying," Lyon said. "It's been a while. It's just great. And I say that sarcastically. We're about getting there. We have to take it a day at a time and a game at a time.
"Our focus remains the same. We just have to go one day at a time. That was a big win for us, and we can enjoy that on the flight home, and then we have to get back after it."...
"We've been building our game and the games have been tight, the games have been really hard," Dylan Larkin said. "We got the bounces and were hungry around their net and got the big goal, and that's what we've been missing.
"As we've gone along on this road trip, we've gotten more comfortable in the moment and we really kind of settled in. We know what these games are going to be like and kind of calmed down a little bit and been able to make more plays and execute better.
"I think it's repeatable because we've been doing it. We've been playing hard."
more ($)
Extended highlights in two parts.
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