By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
Red Wings 5, Senators 1 – Mike Green’s three-goal hat trick paced the Red Wings to their first win of the season on Monday night against the Ottawa Senators in the final home opener at the Joe Louis Arena.
Green, who is in his 12th season in the National Hockey League, had his first three-goal game in his career.
The Red Wings jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period on two goals from Green and a score from Darren Helm.
Ottawa cut its deficit to 3-1 at the 8:51 mark of the second period with a goal from Ryan Dzingel.
Green and Helm each added a third period goals to increase Detroit’s lead to 5-1.
Red Wings’ newly acquired forward Tomas Vanek chipped in with three assists while goalkeeper Petr Mrazek picked up his first win of the season, stopping 31 of 32 Ottawa shots.
Detroit is now 1-2-0 on the season and will head back out on the road to face the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
Record: 1-2-0 2 pts
Tied for 7th Place in Atlantic Division (2 pts behind four different teams)
Tied for 11th Place in Eastern Conference (3 pts behind first place Pittsburgh)
1 point behind Washington Capitals for final playoff spot
Magic # of pts to clinch a playoff berth: 162 pts
Magic # of pts to clinch a regular season Atlantic Division title: 163 pts
Magic # of pts to clinch a regular season Eastern Conference title: 163 pts
Next Game: 10/19/2016 @ New York Rangers 8:00 p.m. @ Madison Square Garden
Stats: Goals- Mike Green 3 (3), Darren Helm 2 (3). Assists- Thomas Vanek 3 (3), Gustav Nyquist (3), Henrik Zetterberg (2), Xavier Ouellet (1), Tomas Tatar (1), Luke Glendening (1), Riley Sheahan (1), Goalie- Petr Mrazek W (1-2-0) 31 saves on 32 shots.
