Wings rally in third to beat Ducks 3-1 for second straight win
It wasn’t pretty, but the Red Wings accomplished something they had not done since Dec. 1.
Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Little Caesars Arena gave Detroit its first two-game winning streak since Dec. 1.
The Wings won 5-2 in Minnesota on Saturday night.
“We've lost tons of these games, and it was important to start winning some,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “In order for Minnesota to mean anything, we had to come out and win another one.”
Anthony Mantha, Gustav Nyquist and Darren Helm scored in the third period after the Red Wings trailed the Ducks, who lost their 12th straight, 1-0 after 40 minutes.
“A little bit of a slow start tonight, another great third period,” said Dylan Larkin, who had an assist.
He got the second assist on Mantha’s goal 5:25 into the third, which tied the game at 1. Andreas Athanasiou’s cross-ice pass was tipped by Anaheim’s Carter Rowney. But the puck still bounced over to Mantha, who one-timed it from around the right face-off dot. The shot went in off the shoulder of goalie John Gibson for Mantha’s 11th goal.
Defenseman Danny DeKeyser, who returned after missing 19 games with a hand injury, set up the next two goals.
Nyquist got the winner, with 4:16 left, by tipping DeKeyser’s shot from just inside the blue line in out of mid-air for his 11th goal. Helm clinched it with a goal from the high slot with 2:33 left after DeKeyser knocked the puck off the stick of a Ducks player at the left point to Helm, who scored his third goal.
“It felt great to be back out there,” DeKeyser said. “It was a long six weeks being away from the rink a lot and not being around the team. I was just happy to be back out there and playing again.
“I was pretty happy with how the guys stuck with it tonight. We were OK in the first and second at times, and then I thought in the third there, we kind of brought it to another level and hit another gear there. So it was fun to be a part of.”
Jimmy Howard made 23 saves.
Rickard Rakell’s power-play goal with 7:57 left in the second period gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead.
Briefly
… Filip Hronek was a healthy scratch. He was the odd defenseman out with DeKeyser’s return.