The hockey gods giveth, and the hockey gods taketh away.
The Red Wings opened up their Global Series set against the Ottawa Senators at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, on Thursday afternoon, mounting a furious comeback to erase a four-goal deficit but losing after Tim Stutzle connected on a home-run swing goal to give the Senators the extra point in a 5-4 win.
This was a weird one from the start, as the Red Wings largely controlled play and out-chanced the Senators, but every penalty killed momentum and every defensive miscue seemed to cost them. It’s always satisfying to pick up a point against a division rival when you’re trailing by four goals, but from the overall body of work, that was a deflating way to lose.
Game Summary
Event Summary
1st period
The start of this one was similar to the teams’ first head-to-head meeting this season, but it was Detroit who controlled the opening moments of a fast-paced first period.
With the game’s first power play following a Michael Rasmussen hold, the Senators got on the board first. Detroit’s penalty kill may have been puck-watching too intently, leaving Claude Giroux with a wide-open look in the slot. James Reimer made that save, but the rebound kicked to Drake Batherson who was able to get a shot past an overcommitted Reimer (which evidently glanced off Brady Tkachuk, too).
Ottawa extended its lead on a bit of a broken play, as a rush by Stutzle was well-defended by Alex DeBrincat, but Stutzle sent a desperation pass cross-crease that Ben Chiarot was not prepared for which found Tkachuk for an easy tap-in and his second of the game.
Detroit thought it had got on the board later in the period on a power play when David Perron jammed a loose puck home, but the officials determined he had pushed Joonas Korpisalo’s pad, rather than the puck, over the line. Although they somehow reviewed that without a coach’s challenge, DeBrincat took a hooking penalty on the ensuing faceoff and Jake Sanderson scored immediately to make it 3-0 Senators.
I wouldn’t say Detroit deserved better in the first 20, but they had a strong start and some solid chances throughout, but they were burned by ill-timed (if a little questionable) penalties and spotty d-zone coverage.
2nd period
It looked like hopes of a comeback took a blow right away in the middle stanza, with Josh Norris converting on an odd-man rush opportunity with Mathieu Joseph for Ottawa’s fourth goal on just 10 shots.
The Red Wings started their steep climb back with a pair of fortunate breaks. A centering attempt hit a Senators defender and sprung Lucas Raymond for a two-on-one with DeBrincat. The hometown kid (or at least as close as he’s likely to get for an NHL game) made no mistake and beat Korpisalo to get Detriot on the board.
Hockey gods gave David Perron a lift later in the period, when Olli Maatta’s point shot deflected off his hand, up in the air and behind the Senators netminder. I didn’t think Perron’s first-period disallowed goal was a terrible call, but either way, he got the better break this time to make it a 4-2 game.
The good karma continued when Alex DeBrincat scored against his former team, less than a month after enduring a steady chorus of boos and a few hard hits in his return to Ottawa. Shayne Gostisbehere broke up what could have been an odd-man-rush, executed a bit of a give-and-go with J.T. Compher and wired a cross-ice pass to DeBrincat, who made no mistake in getting it over Korpisalo.
Gostisbehere tied the game just minutes later, giving Detroit four goals in 7:33. This one was back to the luckier side of things, as a Senators defender tripped to give him all kinds of time and space, and his centering attempt deflected off an Ottawa skate and in the net.
3rd period
The ill-timed penalties returned to start the third period, with Detroit giving Ottawa an early two-man advantage. To add injury to insult, Dylan Larkin was hurt immediately at the start of the kill, tangling up with Tkachuk right off the faceoff. I don’t think it was nefarious (never rule it out with a Tkachuk, though), but Larkin’s leg got caught behind him as he was falling and Giroux may have accidentally glanced off his head once he was already down. Luckily, Larkin was back on the bench after a few shifts.
Most of the third was… just stupid. The Red Wings endured four penalties, most a perfect blend of stupid and weak: Walman definitely held Giroux, after he was held himself; Detroit had too many men on the ice, but the puck was nowhere near; and Chiarot cleared the puck over the glass, but the glass is shorter than NHL standard. Rough.
A massive point for Detroit given how things looked midway through the second, and credit to the penalty killers and Reimer for getting them through some tough moments after a tough start to this game.
Overtime
Chiarot’s penalty carried into overtime, but Detroit managed to kill it off. The early moments saw Reimer make a massive breakaway save on Tkachuk’s hat trick attempt off a Larkin mishandle.
The Red Wings had some chances in overtime, including Larkin hitting the knob of Korpisalo’s stick, and it looked like this one would head to a shootout until the dying seconds of the extra period. On what mostly looked like a broken play, a centering feed was broken up by Gostisbehere but Stutzle batted it in, full-swing baseball style, with just two seconds remaining. His stick was under the crossbar, so unfortunately, Detroit would not pick up that second point.
Takeaways
1. “It’s 90% mental. The other half is physical.” I basically made this point the last recap I did, also a big comeback over the New York Islanders (maybe I should do more recaps). I saw firsthand for years how deflated the Red Wings could get when they were down a few goals. When offense is hard to come by, and you’re not getting the goaltending, games could feel over before they actually were. I’m not seeing that with this team, and I think eliminating that auto-deflation feeling is a great thing at this point in the rebuild.
2. That said… I watched the NHL Network/TSN feed, and analyst Mike Johnson said it perfectly: it’s great that the Red Wings lead the league in comeback wins. It’s bad that they’ve been in a position where they’ve needed to. While I certainly hope this game will further instill the belief that no lead is insurmountable, a few more games without those disastrous five- or 10-minute stretches would make me feel more confident in this team going forward.
3. Elephants in the room. Ben Chiarot is not always popular, and I get that. I think he’s been much better this season, a lot more consistent from game to game. I’ve preferred him without Jeff Petry, but if Chiarot isn’t making mistakes, he’s well-suited to help minimize Petry’s mistakes. Any pairing being on the ice for four goals in 22 minutes needs a timeout, regardless of the other circumstances around the goals (PKs, odd-man rushes, goaltending, etc.). It was probably game-driven given the need for goals and how good Gostisbehere was, but Chiarot and Petry’s shifts were way down after the fourth goal, they finished with 13 and 14 minutes, respectively. I assume a healthy Justin Holl was coming in anyway, but I’d like to see Ghost with Chiarot and Maatta with Petry the next time these six are in.
Same time, same place tomorrow with Detroit serving as the home team in a Swedish affair against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 2:00 p.m. ET. Let Alex Lyon watch officially begin.
