Alright, we’ve all gotten over the chaos that was Saturday, right? No? Didn’t think so. After the nightmare game against the Ottawa Senators in which captain Dylan Larkin was knocked out with minimal punishment and David Perron’s retaliation was punished with a match penalty, the Red Wings will be looking to bounce back in Dallas against a good Stars team. They’ll be doing it without Larkin who will be out for some time after being placed on IR. They’ll also be without Perron who has been suspended for six games which, for what he did, is fair. Just sucks given the context of everything else within that situation.
The Red Wings will also once again be without J.T. Compher and Klim Kostin, both of whom were put on IR as well. The team has called up Jonatan Berggren, Austin Czarnik, and Zach Aston-Reese from Grand Rapids to fill in. They’ll be relying on the Alex DeBrincat/Patrick Kane/Andrew Copp line to step up as well as players like Lucas Raymond and Robby Fabbri, who have been playing well of late. Meanwhile, Dallas brings a very threatening lineup with players like Jason Robertson who, while not as great as last year, is having a really good season. Also, Joe Pavelski has reached into the fountain of youth and is averaging nearly a point per game at age 39.
In goal, the Red Wings will send out James Reimer following rough outings in back-to-back games from both Ville Husso and Alex Lyon. It’ll be a big chance for him to step up and try to claim back one of those top two goalie spots against a solid team after two straight losses against teams who were last in their division. The Stars will send out Jake Oettinger who hasn’t had as great of a season as some of his previous but still comes in with a solid 2.84 GAA. We’ll see if the Red Wings offense can muster up a solid attack against a really solid Stars defense and give themselves some good looks against Oettinger. With that said, let’s get into it.
1st Period
Some slow play early with no real threats in the first couple of minutes. The first good chance comes from Detroit as Patrick Kane comes down the right side and makes a beautiful backhand pass to the slot for DeBrincat, who gets stopped by Oettinger. About a minute later, there’s another great chance for the Wings as Daniel Sprong gets sprung on a one-on-one and gets a great chance at Oettinger. Christian Fischer then fights in the corner, wins the puck, and dishes it to Fabbri. Fabbri passes it off to Sprong WHO FIRES A WRIST SHOT PAST OETTINGER!!! 1-0 RED WINGS JUST OVER FIVE MINUTES INTO THE GAME!!!
Sprong picks up his seventh goal of the season with the assists to Fabbri and Fischer. That line was gonna need to step up tonight and they’re off to a great start. It was mentioned by Ken Daniels on the broadcast that that is the ninth time in 11 games that the Red Wings have scored first. Here’s to hoping it brings good fortune. The Stars get a couple of shots at Reimer that don’t threaten him and he covers up and sends us to our first media timeout.
Coming out of the break, the Stars get a great chance. Miro Heiskanen rifles one off the post from the point, but stays out keeping the Red Wings in the lead. Neither team creates anything for the next couple of minutes as the puck just goes up and down the ice. The Stars do eventually get a shot from the left hashmark that Reimer easily stops. They get one final chance before the mid-period timeout right off a face-off to the left of Reimer. A clean faceoff win gets passed over to Thomas Harley on the left side point who rips a wrist shot that Reimer gloves.
Out of the break, the Stars control the offensive zone for about a minute and a half before the Red Wings pick up a penalty. Joe Veleno goes off for slashing and the Stars get a power play. There’s some crisp puck movement from the Stars and eventually, Heiskanen fires a wrister from the point through traffic and beats Reimer blocker side. Just like that, it’s tied up 1-1 on Heiskanen’s second of the season. Robertson and Benn pick up the assists on the goal.
Outside of one interesting chance for Detroit off a draw that ended with no shot, there’s very little created for either team over the next few minutes. Eventually, Oettinger covers up for the final media timeout with a little less than four minutes remaining in the first. Out of the break, the Red Wings keep control in the offensive end but can’t get a shot on target. A bad turnover at the blueline creates a scary moment, but the Stars aren’t able to create a chance out of it.
With 1:45 to play in the period, the Sprong line is at it again as he finds a streaking Joe Veleno but Oettinger makes a good save. Shortly after, a scary moment for Detroit as Fabbri takes a puck high and goes off the ice. It deflected off a skate and caught him in the face and we’re hoping he’s alright. He’s been playing some excellent hockey lately and losing another forward would be so tough for the Red Wings right now.
After this, there’s not much happening and we’re looking like we’re heading to the period tied 1-1. However, Esa Lindell fires a weak shot from the top of the circle and Reimer just…doesn’t save it. Don’t know if he thought the time was gonna run out or what but it wasn’t a hard shot and he barely moved and it went off the post and in with 0.2 seconds left in the period. Just a deflating end to the period as it was fairly even throughout. Shots were 9-8 Red Wings in the period overall and now it’s 2-1 Dallas. Some good play for Detroit overall but just a very frustrating end to the period.
2nd Period
Big note to start, Fabbri is back on the bench with a fat lip and will return for the game. We love to see that. The Red Wings get the first couple of shots of the second but Oettinger makes a pair of stops. But just over three minutes into the period, Czarnik gets his arm and stick around Craig Smith and sends the Stars on the power play. The Stars get a couple of shots that aren’t super threatening. Then, with 40 seconds left in the power play. Matt Duchene hooks Jake Walman and sends the game to a four-on-four.
The Stars get a couple of chances to start the four-on-four that once again, Reimer pretty handily stops. For some reason, we have Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry on the ice when the team is about to go on a power play and that makes no sense to me and costs them about 30 seconds of power play time while we get them off the ice to finally even bring the puck forward. By the time, the puck is finally controlled in the Stars zone, there are 30 seconds left on the power play. There’s some okay puck movement after this, but a bad pass by DeBrincat kills the chance and the Red Wings get no shot on their first power play. Shortly after, Oettingers covers up and sends us to a media timeout.
Once again, we see some back-and-forth hockey with no real chances from either team for a few minutes. The only shot is a shot from the point by Dallas that easily is stopped by Reimer. Around the ten-minute mark, Mo Seider makes a beautiful move and rips a shot that is saved by Oettinger. A cool move but nothing super threatening came of it. We head to the second media timeout still looking at a 2-1 Stars lead.
Coming out of the break, the Stars get a great chance. Pavelski gets the puck in front of the net but fires the puck wide. However, it gets picked up by Roope Hintz who dishes it back to Lindell who finds Robertson on the back door. Robertson is allowed to just stand there with no one pressuring him for two full seconds and absolutely rips a shot over Reimer’s shoulder and just like that, it’s 3-1. What on earth was the defense doing? You see he has the puck, how on earth do you let a player of that caliber stand that close to the net for that long? My lord.
About two minutes later, the Stars have pressure in the zone again and Harley ends up with the puck at the left point. He just throws a weak wrister towards the net and Duchene deflects it past Reimer. 4-1 Stars and this is getting out of hand. The Red Wings need a response now. And, they get one. Seconds later, the Red Wings bring the puck in and Shayne Gostisbehere takes a shot from the point. The rebound comes right to Berggren WHO BURIES IT HOME!!! 22 SECONDS LATER, THE RED WINGS ONCE AGAIN MAKE IT A TWO-GOAL GAME!!!
A much-needed goal. Maybe this team has some much-needed momentum. We’ve seen this team get hot and score in bunches when down so maybe this can be the start of this. Veleno and Gostisbehere get assists on Berggren’s first goal in the NHL this season. A few minutes later, the Stars pick up a holding penalty and we head to the final media timeout with the Red Wings headed to the power play. A massive power play with a chance to make this a one-goal game headed into the third.
After a slow start to the power play, the Red Wings get a pair of great chances and Oettinger comes up big on both. They were the only two shots however as the power play was bookended by two inabilities to gain control in the offensive end. Fabbri is still playing so well and I really wish we’d see this more often. The Red Wings do get a couple more shots that aren’t super threatening and the period comes to a close. The Stars lead 4-2 and shots for the game are now 21-19, Stars.
Some really rough play in that period from Detroit. The Red Wings have now allowed 15 goals in the 7 periods (plus overtime) and that is terrifying going forward. None of the goalies seem like they’re it. The defense isn’t playing well. It’s so frustrating to see a pretty good offensive team struggle because they can’t stop anyone from scoring. We’ll see if that offense can come to life in the third because it needs to.
3rd Period
The period started a bit slow but once again, it’s Daniel Sprong creating a play. He finds Gostisbehere streaking into the slot who gets a great look but is stopped by Oettinger. Then, about a minute and a half later, the Red Wings get called for too many men on the ice, and yeah, a totally good call as there were at least seven Wings on the ice at one point. A bad mistake that sends Dallas on the power play. The Red Wings limit the Stars for the first minute and a half of the power play, but they do get a great chance eventually that Reimer makes a really nice save on. The power play comes to an end with just one shot on goal and then we head to a media timeout.
Coming back from the break and it’s all Dallas. The Red Wings are struggling to get much set up in their offensive zone and the Stars keep getting chances. Shots are now 6-0 Stars since their power play ended in just a few minutes of play. None of them created a scary chance but still, they’re up and are the ones keeping up the pressure. It feels like the exact opposite of a game that Detroit would have while winning in the third. Wild. The Stars get a fantastic chance around the 9:30 mark as Seguin feeds a pass to a wide-open net but no Star player is there to receive it.
This is immediately followed by the first successful bit of pressure by Detroit for a while. Petry gets a great look from the top of the slot that gets saved and then Kane creates a chance for Sprong who can’t quite get the chance to go. The pressure continues as the Red Wings keep creating chances but Oettinger continues to make saves. Then, Harley picks up a holding call against Fabbri and heading into the second media timeout with 6:54 to play, the Red Wings are headed to a massive power play.
Right off the bat, the Red Wings have the puck with control. DeBrincat gets the puck in the left circle and finds Veleno in front of the net. Oettinger makes the first save but VELENO BURIES THE SECOND CHANCE HOME!!! 4-3 STARS, WE HAVE A HOCKEY GAME!!! VELENO GETS HIS SEVENTH OF THE SEASON!!! Assists for both DeBrincat and Gostisbehere and we got a one-goal game.
Immediately after this, Michael Rasmussen picks up a tripping penalty and gives the Stars the power play again. Immediately afterward, Roope Hintz puts a shot on the ice for Pavelski to redirect and it beats Reimer. 5-3 Stars less than a minute later and that’s now 16 goals allowed in the last three games by Detroit. Just a momentum killer of a penalty and goal and we’re now approaching the final five minutes of the game still down by two. I should add the tripping penalty was a rough call but you’ve heard that at this point.
A couple of minutes later, the Red Wings pull Reimer but a deflected puck out of play sends the game to its final media timeout with just under three minutes to play. We’ll see what they pull out coming out of the break and if they can get some good possession in the offensive zone with the extra skater. The Red Wings get a one-timer right away but Oettinger makes the save. The Stars very quickly get a chance but miss the empty net. Then the Stars pick up a bench minor for too many men and just like that, the Wings have six-on-four with 1:47 left in regulation.
The Red Wings create a chance with a great shot by Gostisbehere but the rebound finds the Stars and they get a chance at the open net. Hintz gets a chance that likely ends with an empty net goal, but Patrick Kane hooks him and brings it to four-on-four with a faceoff in the Detroit end. Things are looking bleak with 1:11 left in the game. The Red Wings get the puck and immediately pull Reimer as they go forward with the puck. However, they don’t even get the puck in the Stars end and Heiskanen scores the empty netter to seal the game. 6-3 Stars and that’s gonna do it. A really rough ending to this game that was looking really promising when it became 4-3.
Conclusion
Shots were 14-11 Stars in the third period. I say again, why is it every time we trail in the third period, we get outshot but can’t do the same thing when we have the lead? It’s very frustrating as we should be the team putting on the pressure. And yet, outside of a three-minute stretch that led to the Veleno power play goal, there wasn’t any. It all disappeared after the Rasmussen penalty and never came back.
Things are gonna be difficult without two of your top centers. I get it. But missing your centers would generally mean your offense with struggle more. The Red Wings once again scored three goals and yet, can not stop the opponent from scoring to save their life. Three straight games allowing five or more goals and it’s just exhausting to watch this poor goaltender play and even worse defensive play. But we’ll be sticking through it for the rest of the season and I guess we’ll see how it goes. Have a good night everyone.
