Coming back home the Wings were determined not to get caught up in another long losing streak after dropping their last two games on the road.
A quick start Thursday night ensured the fans just that.
The Wings used a five goal first period to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 5-2 from the Joe Louis Arena.
In his return to the lineup after sitting out a game due to a laceration on his shin, Valtteri Filppula picked up right where he left off before he was sidelined picking up a goal and assist in the win. Todd Bertuzzi, Tomas Holmstrom, Darren Helm and Jiri Hudler also picked up goals for the Wings who chased Phoenix starter Mike Smith after four goals. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg had two assists each.
Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk ended up leaving the game after the second period due to a lower body injury. However head coach Mike Babcock said the move was just precautionary.
“We knew he was a bit sore going into the game, didn’t get sore (in the game) or anything like that,” Babcock said. “He’ll be fine. We’ll probably give him tomorrow off and go from there.”
He added, “Got a bump the other day, he’s fine. It’s not a tear, it’s nothing like that.”
The Wings were also determined to have a better showing at home this season.
So far this season the Wings are 11-3-1 at home while last season they were a better road team going 26-11-4 and 21-14-6 at home.
The last time the Wings were able to score five goals in the first period was back on February 7th of 2009 during an 8-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
The Majors Detroit Player of the Game: Valtteri Filppula
Filppula has been on fire for the Wings as of late and tonight was no exception coming off injury. Filppula had a goal and assist giving eight goals for the season, 13 assists and 21 points.
The Majors Detroit Zero of the Game: ???
You really can’t complain about too much tonight. After the first period the Wings kind of went into cruise control letting the Coyotes get some quality chances on Jimmy Howard. Aside from that though it was a pretty solid game tonight.
Looking Ahead:
They got the old Winnipeg Jets Thursday night and come Saturday night the new Winnipeg Jets make a visit to the Joe for the first time in about 15 years. Thus far the Jets are 12-11-4 and 3rd in the Southeast Division. This will be a good opportunity for the Wings to really familiarize themselves with the Jets since they will be playing in the same conference together come next season.
The Bottom Line:
It was definitely a welcome sight tonight to see the Wings get off to a quick start especially since they had a couple of tough loses to end their road trip. The Wings knew they had to get off to a good start against a Phoenix team that has started the season off very well as they sit in first place in the Pacific division.
Ref: Mlive.com, Yahoo! Sports, DetNews.com (image)