The Detroit Red Wings banked a pair of points and celebrated a pair of promising newcomers.
A much-needed victory, only their second of the season, gives the Wings a three-game point streak to take into Saturday's homestand finale. The 2-1 final against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, Oct. 15, was a team effort, highlighted by rookie defenseman Anton Johansson's first goal and new goaltender Daniil Tarasov's second straight strong start.
"This will be a goal he'll always remember," coach Todd McLellan said.
The goal: Johansson had just emerged from the penalty box, early in the second period, and was headed for the bench when teammate Viktor Arvidsson had a piece of advice for Johansson.
"He was coming off and Arvy said, there's a two-on-one,
you stay," McLellan continued. "He opened up and shot it in the net, so, it's a good story. We were bugging Arvy on the bench that he probably should get an assist on it."
He didn't, but Justin Faulk did, for breaking up a Flyers play and chipping the puck out of Detroit's zone, and Dylan Larkin did, for firing the pass across the attacking zone that Johansson one-timed into the net to make it 1-1.
"Todd was waving at me coming to the bench," Johansson said. "They turned the puck and I was going to the bench after Faulker put it up to Larks, but I changed my mind and followed up in the two-on-one and Larks made a great play and it went in the back of the net."
Johansson's steady play has been crucial to the Wings with defenseman Simon Edvinsson out on a contract stalemate.
"He's a very gifted player," Andrew Copp, who provided the winning goal with just under five minutes to go, said of the 22-year-old Johansson. "He seems like his game is pretty mature, which I think is really important, especially for those defensemen. Night after night, you see dangerous forwards coming at you. To have the maturity that he does, on and off the ice, is impressive. He's had a great start and I'm looking forward to seeing him grow."
Other than letting in a puck batted out of the air, by Matvei Michkov, late in the first period, Tarasov held strong with 17 saves, seven of them in the third period.
The gangly 6-foot-5, 204 pound goaltender is a new addition, signed by former general manager Steve Yzerman in the early July days of free agency to replace outgoing veteran Cam Talbot. The Wings relied heavily on No. 1 John Gibson down the stretch last season, and the impetus to signing Tarasov is that he can spell Gibson a bit more. It's a small sample size this early in the season, but so far, so good.
"[Tarasov's] done a real good job when he's gone in there," McLellan said. "Tonight was probably a tough game for him to play because it came and went in spurts. But he's done a real good job, what is it now, six, seven, seven-and-a-bit periods – he's been pretty solid."
Less than a week ago, the 27-year-old Tarasov played in his 100th career NHL game, making his first Wings start on Oct. 9 at the Montreal Canadiens, which ended with a 1-0 loss after a six-round shootout. He had played 26 minutes the night before in relief in a 6-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken, allowing one goal on nine shots.
"I was just working hard every practice, and waiting, waiting for a chance," Tarasov said. "Just have to be ready. Getting some minutes in before a back-to-back in Montreal helped give me confidence and be ready."
The Wings wrap up a stretch of playing seven of their first eight games at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday (7 p.m., Detroit SportsNet) when they host the San Jose Sharks. After their home game against a West Coast team, the Wings head west themselves, with a four game stretch in the Pacific Northwest and Canadian plains – the Seattle Kraken, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers – before returning home to host the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues to finish out October.
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com.
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Next up: Sharks
Matchup: Red Wings (2-3-2, 6 points) vs. San Jose (4-3-0, 8 points).
Faceoff: 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: Detroit SportsNet; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Daniil Tarasov, Anton Johansson key to Detroit Red Wings' point streak
