Erne and Helm had the first really strong opportunity of the period, with Erne muscling through traffic to pass the puck in front of the crease to Helm, but the pass was broken up. Erne has had a real good stretch of games lately, and when he’s been bad, the entire team has been bad.
Helm got away with a slashing penalty on Cam Atkinson, which led to a series of icings by the Jackets. It all led to another great opportunity for Mantha and Ryan. Detroit came into the early going of the game looking to play with an edge, obviously, because they were in the Jackets’ faces, to the point that if I was a Jackets fan I might be a bit frustrated with the lack of calls.