Detroit begins their six game home stretch with a loss against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wings are now 0-2-1 against their former Western Conference rival so far this season.

To start things off, Tyler Bertuzzi was out of the lineup again due to injury. Danny Dekeyser was also not in the lineup tonight after he cleared waivers today.

First Period

Although Detroit started hot out of the gate with an opportunity half a minute into the game, it was the Blackhawks Mattias Janmark who would strike first and score their first goal of the night on their first shot of the night. Janmark was a third round draft pick of Detroit in 2013 and signed with Chicago this offseason. Later in the first Dominik Kubalik put his fourth of the season past Greiss as he’s trying to build off of his strong rookie campaign from last season. Right as it seemed like the Red Wings were going into the first intermission down a pair, Vlad Namestnikov buries a loose puck to cut Detroit’s lead in half before going into the second.

Namestnikov bangs in the rebound to put the #RedWings on the board! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/5aCGVzau1R

— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) February 16, 2021

Second Period

After an exciting first, the second was a little quieter but Detroit kept up pressure and outshot Chicago. Although they could not find the back of the net, Detroit looked confident like they did in Nashville and the work ethic was very visible. Playing from behind is not easy but they kept in control of the period and go out without falling into a deeper hole.

Third Period

The period picked back up where the second left off and Greiss continued his solid play throughout the period. The main story of the third was Christian Djoos knotting his first as a member of Detroit and tying the game up. It was a pretty one too. He made a quick move and showed fantastic patience before using the traffic in front of the net as a screen to beat Malcolm Subban on the outside.

The Djoos, is loose. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/GzZmVN6i00

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 16, 2021

Overtime

Thankfully overtime was nail-biting and exhilarating up until there were 17 seconds left and we thought we were going to get some more free hockey. Dominik Kubalik netted his second of the night on a 2 on 1 break that Greiss should’ve had. This one hurt to watch. Greiss had played so solid up until this point and was probably getting ready to try to get his second win as a Red Wing in a shootout.

Overall I think Detroit played a solid defensive game but didn’t generate enough offense from their top two lines to pull through. A wise hockey coach once told me, “Your best players have to be your best players every night or you can’t win games.” That seemed to be the case tonight with Detroit as Larkin, Mantha, Fabbri, Zadina, and Bobby Ryan were all held off the score sheet. The Wings look to bounce back against Chicago on Wednesday at 7:30 on NBCSN.