Game Recap: Vanbiesbrouck’s struggles continue in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan (AP) – For the fans, it was an exciting high scoring game, but to goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck it was a disaster. The veteran, who’s had a tough start to this season, allowed 5 goals on just 13 shots and was pulled early in the 2^nd period of the Wing’s 7-5 loss to the Jets. Winnipeg is a fantastic team but allowing 7 goals should not be happening given the talent Detroit has on the blue line. The team will be back at it tomorrow but they’ll need to rebound quickly as they’ve lost 2 straight and appear to be giving Vanbiesbrouck the night off tomorrow as a way to get him to take a breather and get some solid practise time in. Rookie Potvin, who’s outplayed Vanbiesbrouck so far this season, will get that start. So far, Potvin has started 3 games, won them all and has a 2.83 GAA while Vanbiesbrouck is 5-3 with a 3.95 GAA.

While they scored 5 times in the game, the Red Wings only had 23 shots on net so not great. Alex Mogilny led the way with a 3 point effort while defenseman Steve Konroyd put up 2 assists. Other than that, several other players netted 1 point each, including goals by defensemen Dave Babych and Hannu Virta, and wingers Petr Klima and Brian Bellows. The 3 point effort for Mogilny puts him up to 12 points in 11 games so far – which is 2^nd on the team to Carey Wilson’s 14 points. The team’s other big acquisition this offseason was Denis Savard and he has netted 4 goals and 9 point (with a +9 rating) through 11 games. Offensively, the points are there, with the team scoring just under 5 goals a game. However, the goals against is far higher than they would like. 39 so far allowed in 11 games so needless to say, that is a pain point in the early part of this season. The powerplay has done their thing with 15 PPG in 11 games, so it’s the penalty killing unit and their overall defensive structure which has been lacking early on. 

The loss brings the Red Wings to 4^th in the Campbell Conference with their 8-3 record. They’ll face another juggernaut with the Hartford Whalers and it’ll be Potvin’s first real test as to date his 3 career starts have all been against sub .500 teams.