Red Wings Drag Canucks out of their Depth

The Detroit Red Wings seem to have found their footing after beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 on the road in another late-night matchup. After Saturday’s contentious battle with the Seattle Kraken, the Red Wings faced many questions and storylines. Tonight, they may have shut a few of them down.

Playing against a Vancouver team that has the worst save percentage in the league, Detroit had three goals before the Wings had 15 shots on goal tonight. With the win, the Red Wings are back in first place in the Atlantic Division.

Getting Hot

James van Riemsdyk has had some sort of fire lit under him. The 2007 No. 2 overall pick has four goals in the last four games and six goals in his last seven contests.   After tying the game against the Kraken late in the second period Saturday night, van Riemsdyk opened up scoring in the first period Monday. The large winger has been providing a physical net front presence for the Red Wings, and it’s been paying off.

On the other end of the ice, John Gibson had easily his best game in a Red Wings uniform. Said Gibson, “I felt like I playing my game. I was getting pretty good reads on the plays and the D and forwards were blocking a lot of shots… It was a good night.”

Gibson got his first shutout in a Red Wings uniform facing the team he got his first NHL win and shutout against, and it was no easy night for the veteran netminder. Gibson had to stand on his head more than once or twice in the first period, and in the third he even had to use it to block a shot. He had an impressive toe stop on a Vancouver power play that surely frustrated Jake DeBrusk. Though, there were still a few times where Gibson was out of position and had to rely on some coverage from a nearby defenseman.

Depth Starting to Show Up

Andrew Copp, who has been recently centering Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane, scored in his second consecutive game. And this time he didn’t even have to dig the puck out from behind the goalie’s skates for it. Axel Sandin-Pellikka set Copp up for a beauty of a tip-in with just under 5 minutes left to play in the second period. Copp was left alone behind Kevin Lankinen, and Sandin-Pellikka fired a pass right onto his stick to put the Red Wings up 2-0.

Sandin-Pellikka would also get another assist 37 seconds later when Nate Danielson tipped the puck in on his shot. However, the real story of that goal was Marco Kasper breaking his eight-month-long assist drought. Detroit has been rolling with a fourth line consisting of Kasper, Danielson, and Elmer Soderblom in recent games. Though there have been some growing pains and mistakes, that kind of shift where they win the faceoff and score, could help build confidence. The group has also combined for more than a few turnovers in the last two games, however.

Wrapping Things Up

Dylan Larkin made the lead 4-0 when the Canucks pulled their goalie with almost five minutes left in the third period. The Red Wings’ captain missed a period of action when a puck cut his face during the game against the Kraken and wore a lower face shield for  Monday’s game. The only member of Detroit’s top line not to record a point in the game was Lucas Raymond.

Though a lot of noise has been made in recent weeks of a Quinn Hughes trade to Detroit, it was a relatively quiet night from the young Canucks defenseman. Instead, the Detroit defense played a solid game, and the Red Wings’ depth finally seems to be showing itself on the ice.