A couple nights after facing hardly any shots, Detroit Red Wings goalie John Gibson saw far too many in a rough second period against the Calgary Flames on Saturday, Oct. 24.
Gibson surrendered three goals on 10 shots in the second, breaking a tie as the Wings fell to the Flames, 4-1, at Scotiabank Saddledome to snap a six-game point streak for Detroit (4-4-3).
It was a strong contrast from his two periods of work on Thursday in Vancouver, when he faced just five shots – stopping four – in a 5-2 win over the Canucks.
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The loss was the Wings’ final game at the Saddledome, which will be replaced with a new arena for the 2027-28 arena. The Wings finished their run at the Saddledome, which opened for the 1983-84 season, with a 30-33-2-2 regular-season record at the arena shaped like, well, a saddle.
The loss also kept the Wings from fully joining an increasingly crowded Eastern Conference wild-card picture: at 11 points, the Wings are one point back of a block of four teams (Washington Capitals, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers) tied for the second and final wild-card spot.
All knotted up
After going into the second period trailing 1-0 on a Joel Farabee goal, the Wings evened it on a two-man hustle play from J.T. Compher and Andrew Copp, 2:22 in. Copp sent the draw from the left side dot toward the net, where Compher chased it down and tried to put a shot on net. Goalie Devin Cooley stopped that one, but Copp, trailing to the far right post, tapped it past Cooley for his second goal of the season, and his first since Oct. 15.
A flurry from the Flames
The tie lasted a little over six minutes before former Saginaw Spirit star Zayne Parekh scored a wrister on the power play for his first goal this season, and sixth of his career. About 9½ minutes later, Ryan Strome stretched it to a two-goal lead with a snap shot past Gibson. That was followed less than 90 seconds later by a snapper past Gibson on the power play by Matvei Gridin.
Next up: Oil spoilers?
The Red Wings will wrap up their four-game Western Conference road swing with a stop in Edmonton on Monday (9:30 p.m., Detroit SportsNet). The Oilers (8-2-1) enter Sunday tied for first in the Pacific Division, but they won’t be resting on their laurels after a rough game Saturday night – a 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Former MVP Leon Draisaitl scored both goals for the Oilers, assisted both times by Connor McDavid. The Oilers captain is on a monster tear to open the season, as his pair of helpers brought him to an NHL-best 33 points – eight goals, 25 assists – in just 11 games; that’s an 84-game pace of 252 points, which would be 38 more than the NHL record of 215 set by Wayne Gretzky in 1985-86 (albeit in only an 82-game season).
The Wings return to their non-saddle-shaped arena on Thursday as they host the Chicago Blackhawks, followed by a Halloween afternoon date with the St. Louis Blues.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings play with fire, scorched by Flames in 2nd period