Hockey is back! Well, sorta. It’s preseason, and this game was only televised in Chicagoland. Still, it’s exciting to watch on Twitter. Thankfully I had a way to watch so I can bring you lovely people my thoughts on the first Red Wings hockey game since June. No, it’s not October yet, but this will do for now, dammit.
Let’s do this.
1st Period:
You could definitely tell it was the first game of the NHL preseason. Period started off a bit sloppy, but picked up it’s pace as it went on. Dylan Larkin had a great look on his first NHL preseason shift with two scoring chances back-to-back. The Red Wings fell behind 2-0 after goals from Kyle Baun, and Jonathan Toews. It’s tough to assess this game, mostly because the Blackhawks have the better roster in this game. Red Wings saw four minutes of PP time, but were a bit too focused on passing, rather than getting the puck to the net. Nick Jensen had a handful of brilliant moments, and likely stood out the most among Red Wings blueliners in the first 20 minutes. At the end of the period shots were in favor of the Blackhawks, 16-15.
2nd Period:
Wings continue to play a very low event style of hockey, but I think it has a lot to do with how many mismatches there are. I think that Joakim Andersson had a good 2nd period, had a nice scoring chance with Landon Ferraro but was robbed by Scott Darling. The Blackhawks managed to get on the board again on a goal from Teuvo Teravainen. Puck bounced off of Jimmy, and Teuvo smoked it through the 5-hole. The Red Wings managed to break the shutout (after Darling had been pulled halfway through.) Goal scored by Anthony Mantha, assists going to Andy Miele, and Nathan Paetsch:
Great play by Miele, and a good job of Mantha to know where to stay. Miele dishes it up, and Mantha rips it home, Ovechkin-style.
At the end of 40, Hawks lead 3-1. Shots also in favor of Chicago, 31-27.
3rd Period:
Red Wings came out skating a bit better this period. McCollum had played well until getting scored on by Ryan Garbutt, but bounced back. The goal was largely to a giant *fart noise* by Ryan Sproul. He totally gave up on the play, and Garbutt was able to skate in and bury it. It took the Wings just over two minutes to get one back when Riley Sheahan was able to chip one in. Assists from Nathan Paetsch, and Nick Jensen:
The Wings weren’t done yet. Teemu Pulkkinen pulled the team within one on a deflection goal. Assists from Andy Miele, and Alexey Marchenko:
The Red Wings were riding the score effects, that’s for sure. They managed to tie the game at 4-4. Goal came from Luke Glendening’s backhand. Assists went to Andreas Athanasiou, and Riley Sheahan:
Despite the great comeback, the Red Wings lost the game in 3-on-3 overtime due to a 3-on-1 odd man rush in favor of Chicago. No chance for Sproul or McCollum. They made it look easy, and that’s because it was.
It’s a loss, but the fact that the Red Wings came back from a deficit with the roster they had against the roster the Hawks put out there, well, I’ll take that as a positive.
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Standout players (no particular order):
Dylan Larkin, Evgeny Svechnikov, Nick Jensen, Riley Sheahan, Landon Ferraro, Anthony Mantha.
Preseason game one in the books. See y’all tomorrow when the Wings take on the Hawks at the Joe Louis Arena!
