By AJ Petronzi
In Play Magazine
The Detroit Red Wings scored the first goal tonight against the Minnesota Wild and never gave the Wild a chance to get back into the game.
Johan Franzen broke open the sheet tonight and was then followed by Tomas Holmstrom, Jonathan Ericsson, and Pavel Datsyuk before Andrew Brunette stopped the goal run by scoring for the Wild on the powerplay. Detroit had killed off the previous 29 penalties before allowing the goal. A weird bounce put the Wild within two early in the third, but then Franzen and Drew Miller drove the game home.
Detroit had a slow start but took control of the game halfway through the first. Detroit’s special teams have been rolling which was big tonight with the game’s 30 penalty minutes. Minnesota amassed 20 of those minutes. The top line for the Wings (Franzen, Datsyuk, Holmstrom) had four of the six goals with the number two line (Todd Bertuzzi, Henrik Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula) seeing their point steak of 20 points in three games come to an end as no one on that line recorded a point tonight.
In Play! Man of the Game: Johan Franzen. Franzen was on fire tonight, recording a career high four points (2-2).
ADDED BONUS: Post game audio from the dressing room after tonights game Howard, Franzen.
ADDED BONUS: Post game audio from the dressing room after tonights game Lidstrom, Babcock.
