Detroit is now just over half way through their six game home stretch and things have not been great leading up to tonight. Finally though, Detroit squeaked out a close win to overcome the Florida Panthers. The highlight of the night though, was that Mattias Brome netted his first NHL goal to help secure Detroit’s victory.
The Red Wings did not get off to a promising start tonight as Alex Wennberg opened the scoring about five minutes into the first on the power play. After that though, Detroit seemed to pull things together defensively to keep the Panthers lead within a goal by the end of the first.
Detroit looked like a different team this period. Patrick Nemeth opened the scoring half way through to tie the game up at one after a nice offensive zone faceoff execution and a great faceoff win by Luke Glendening. The shining moment of the night came at the end of the period when Mattias Brome picked up a rebound in front of the net off of a Dylan Larkin shot. Brome had an ear to ear grin and you could tell this goal was extremely special for him and in Detroit’s case, extremely important for them as it happened to be the game winner.
The final period was quiet but this was the best case scenario for the Red Wings as they played a mostly solid defensive game to secure the win. The last few minutes saw a few defensive breakdowns but Jonathan Bernier held strong in the net to make 38 of 39 saves. He was one of the main reasons Detroit pulled out the win tonight.
It really was awesome to see Detroit get a win off of Mattias Brome’s first NHL goal but this game was far from perfect. Had Bernier not played so well the outcome could’ve been drastically different. Detroit also failed to convert on the power play again going 0/2 on the night. But, as Detroit sports fans, we have to take our wins when we get them and tonight there is plenty of reason for celebration. Especially if your name is Mattias Brome.