Although the Detroit Red Wings (38-35-7) will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, this did not stop them from closing their home slate with a win by defeating the Dallas Stars (50-25-6) by a score of 6-4 from Little Caesars Arena on Monday night.
Detroit opened the scoring at 15:33 left in the first period when Dylan Larkin drew three Stars players near the right-side boards that allowed defenseman Albert Johansson to accept a pass from the Red Wings’ captain at the point and walk into a wicked wrist shot near the top of the slot that beat Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger into the top right corner past the catching glove for a 1-0 lead. For Johansson, it is his third goal of the season, with Larkin registering his 38th assist and Jonatan Berggren picking up his 11th helper of the year.
Dallas would tie the game minutes later when Lian Bichsel touched the puck as it was sliding into the net with 12:45 left in the first after Jamie Benn tried to deek around the body of Red Wings’ goaltender Cam Talbot after Benn found himself on a breakaway.
Detroit would regain the lead with 6:08 remaining in the period when Marco Kasper entered the zone and made a nifty drop pass to Patrick Kane, who then dished a no-look backhand pass through the sticks of two Stars players directly in the wheelhouse of Alex DeBrincat for a one-timer that powered its way past a sliding Oettinger on the low blocker side. The tallie is DeBrincat’s team-leading 37th goal of the season, and Kane picked up his 37th assist while Kasper got his 17th.
Dallas would respond again with 11 minutes remaining in the second period when Roope Hintz fired a wrist shot from the point that Evgenii Dadonov deflected past Talbot to tie the game at two.
The Stars would add another goal when Sam Steele would chase after a Cody Ceci shorthanded dump into the Red Wings zone and center a pass in front for a wide-open Colin Blackwell, who quickly wristed a shot past Talbot to give Dallas a 3-2 lead with 8:35 left in the second.
Detroit would tie the game once again in the third period when Moritz Seider passed the puck to a streaking Lucan Raymond through the neutral zone on the left-side boards, who then dished a perfect pass into the sweet-spot of a Jonatan Berggren one-timer from the right-wing circle that beat Oettinger above the glove into the top right corner with 18:45 left in the third. For Berggren, it’s his 11th goal of the year, with Raymond tallying his 50th assist and Seider registering his 34th on the campaign.
The Red Wings would score again a few minutes later when Larkin won a faceoff to Raymond on the left-side boards and touch-passed the puck to a free-moving Seider, who fired a wrist shot from the point that blew past Oettinger on the blocker side on the powerplay to extend the lead to 4-2. This is Seider’s eighth goal of the year, with Raymond getting his 51st assist and Larkin earning his 39th.
Detroit would strike once again with 10:11 left when an arrant Stars pass in the neutral zone off a turnover found a streaking Raymond, who fired a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Oettinger above the glove side into the top right corner of the net. The goal is Raymond’s 27th of the year, his 78th point of the season, and 252nd point in his career on just 318 games played.
Dallas would strike score with 7:04 left when Wyatt Johnston fired home a loose puck in front of the Red Wings’ goal past an outstretched Talbot to make it a one-goal game.
Fortunately for the Red Wings, they would add an empty-net goal with 1:56 remaining when Michael Rasmussen beat out a would-be icing call off a clearing attempt that was ripped around the boards by Seider from behind his own net, which was quickly backhanded in front of an empty Stars goal to a streaking Vladimir Tarasenko to make it a 6-4 score. This would be Tarasenko’s 11th goal of the season, with Rassmussen collecting his ninth assist and Seider getting his 35th.
Regarding special teams, the Red Wings would finish 1-for-3 on the power play but would also surrender a shorthanded goal on their second man advantage. Detroit’s penalty kill, which still ranks last in the league at 70.0%, would surprisingly hold Dallas to 0-for-3 on the powerplay.
In terms of shot, the Red Wings would outshoot the Stars by a 37-28 margin.
Another note is that Monday night’s game was Patrick Kane’s 1300th career game played, becoming the eighth U.S.-born player to reach the milestone in NHL history, joining Red Wings legends Chris Chelios and Mike Modano amongst the seven other players.
Even though the Red Wings will fall short of reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the impressive performance of the team’s core and young stars against a high-quality opponent is still exciting to see, regardless of the circumstances.
Detroit’s next game will be against the New Jersey Devils (41-32-7) on Wednesday, April 16 from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, with a 7:30 start on TNT, truTV, MAX, and FanDuel Sports Detroit.
