Another bullet point recap for this one. We’ll get more in-depth when the games start counting. Let’s rock this one.
Boxscore, stats, and highlights at NHL.com
- Anthony Mantha is super-fun to watch. He’s obviously a big guy and that helps, but the radius this guy has and how strongly he controls pucks that aren’t close to him is incredible to see. If he’s anywhere near a puck, it kinda belongs to him. Even better, you can really see him hustling back on pucks to make sure he’s in the right area to cover back and create takeaways that aid transition back.
- Speaking of big guys, Michael Rasmussen scored a power play goal by driving from the low corner to the net-front. He got a good bounce off a defenseman’s stick, but that’s the kind of stuff that happens more often the more you throw a giant person into an area that makes the other team’s defense poo themselves. I still don’t care if this kid ever scores from 30 feet out if he’s going to develop the hell out of this part of his game.
- Xavier Ouellet struggled in the first period. And the 2nd period. Third period too. He DID get an empty-netter though, so yay!
- Dennis Cholowski continues to impress. He’s got an incredible sense of where to be. He’s scary quiet out there in a good way.
- I think Luke Witkowski might be afraid of having the puck on his stick; like it makes him nervous or something. He wouldn’t keep it for more than a step or two and then would prefer to lose the puck rather than trying to hold it any longer.
- Trevor Thompson on FSD does a really good job of remembering that the practice rink is called the BELFOR Training Center, or he’s getting paid every time he slips it into conversation because he probably slipped it in four times in less than a minute during a segment on tonight’s broadcast.
- While on the topic of FSD, it seems their new annoying thing this season is going to be doing split-screen of the Wings’ games while in 1/3rd of the picture, they show you slow panning shots of crap like weight equipment or tables at the biergarden. I know they can’t keep this up all season, but I’m certain they’ll find enough crap to do this at least once per home game because once FSD finds something that annoys me slightly, they find a way to do it all. the. damn. time.
- Ryan Sproul was kinda meh. Robbie Russo was slightly less meh.
- Dylan Larkin looks like he put on three years over the summer. He looks like he’s wearing a grownup Dylan Larkin mask.
- Marty Frk looks faster than he did last season. He’s still got a bit of a scuttling stride that reminds me of Jiri Hudler, but the guy gets low and moves his legs. I’m really enjoying what he’s providing in the preseason so far. /
The Red Wings Goals
(not the empty-netter because those don’t matter)
Anthony Mantha with a power move across the front of the net to put the Wings up 2-0 pic.twitter.com/nDoe28Ox9n
— Prashanth Iyer (@iyer_prashanth) September 26, 2017
Tatar pounces on a loose puck off of a faceoff and roofs a backhand for a 3-0 Wings’ lead pic.twitter.com/Wmdvx1YcO5
— Prashanth Iyer (@iyer_prashanth) September 26, 2017
