With the ghosts of last season lingering and the boos loudly descending, it was the Red Wings’ Ghost and the rest of Detroit’s unstoppable power play that lifted the team to a 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon at the Canadian Tire Centre. After initially being heavily outshot in the first period, Detroit spread out five goals over its first 15 shots, including three power play tallies.
Game Summary
Event Summary
1st period
The Red Wings went 11-7 for this one, with the freshly recalled Jonatan Berggren sitting in addition to Klim Kostin, who Trevor Thompson reported was the forward nicked up in yesterday’s practice. The Senators came out firing, holding Detroit without a real shot for over 12 minutes (the first shot was a mishandled pass that rolled to Korpisalo).
After the Red Wings endured the initial Ottawa push, the frantic pace of the opening minutes slowed, though consecutive penalty kills prevented Detroit from mounting any kind of offensive threat. The Senators capitalized on the second of those power plays, with Jake Sanderson wiring a one-timer over Ville Husso’s left pad.
Alex DeBrincat was booed every time he touched the puck, and bad blood boiled to the surface on a couple of occasions. After a clean but slightly late hit on DeBrincat from Ridly Greig, Detroit’s lethal power play made the Senators pay immediately, with Dylan Larkin finding a wide-open Shayne Gostisbehere driving the net to tie the game 1-1.
It was absolutely massive for Detroit to get out of this period tied and get a fresh start in the second to tilt the ice back in their favor.
2nd period
The emotion the Sens came into the came with seemed to fizzle out coming into the second, and Detroit began to come alive thanks yet again to its power play, with Lucas Raymond, J.T. Compher and Andrew Copp each getting Grade-A chances that Korpisalo robbed. It was shortly after the man advantage expired that the Red Wings finally capitalized after Christian Fischer made a dazzling behind-the-back pass that Joe Veleno finished past an unsuspecting Ottawa netminder.
Detroit extended its lead to 3-1 again on the man advantage, ending an uncharacteristic power play slump that spanned two minutes and 20 seconds. Larkin corralled a bouncing puck behind the net and centered it for David Perron, who got just enough of it to see his shot flutter over Korpisalo’s shoulder.
3rd period
I’ve run out of ways to tell you about a power play goal, so let’s try this: eight teams this season have scored nine or fewer goals: Boston (9), Anaheim (9), Buffalo (9), NY Islanders (8), Dallas (7), San Jose (6), St. Louis (5) and Washington (4). The Red Wings scored their ninth power play goal of the season early in the third, with Gostisbehere setting up a one-touch pass to Larkin in the slot for Detroit’s third successful PP of the afternoon.
Veleno struck again in the third to put the final nail in the coffin. Daniel Sprong forced a turnover, but his centering pass looked like it might be just a little bit too slow. Veleno collected it and narrowly outwaited Korpisalo to score his second of the game.
One of the game’s few negatives happened late, with Ben Chiarot blowing a tire to allow a Greig breakaway goal that made it 5-2. But unlike Wednesday’s game where Detroit sat on its lead, the Red Wings continued to apply pressure in this one and were able to avoid further damage. They improved to 4-1 this season.
Takeaways
- The power play is sustainable. Well, sort of. No one expects the Red Wings to continue to score on 50% of their power plays, but I’m convinced this is going to be among the NHL’s top power plays all season. The way they’re moving the puck and the quality looks they’re getting in tight are a breath of fresh air after the mediocre power plays of years past.
- Shots weren’t indicative of play. I don’t think the 38-21 Ottawa shot advantage tells the story of this one. I thought Ottawa was just shooting from everywhere, especially early. Husso’s biggest saves felt like they came later. Bally Sports Detroit marked the chances at 20-15 in favor of Ottawa, which feels high for both but is spiritually closer to how the game felt.
- Some love for Ras. He didn’t figure into the scoring, but Rasmussen had a quietly good game. Not the least of which was taking Wing-killer Brady Tkachuk off the ice for 7+ minutes between matching roughing minors and a short scrap later on (Rasmussen picked up an extra minor, but luckily that was only the second-most confusing call after Chiarot’s “roughing” penalty).
- This will be a great rivalry. Ottawa looked great when they were playing at full pace, there’s a lot of talent there, but I still like Detroit’s depth better. The teams meet again in Sweden on Nov. 16, then twice in Detroit on Dec. 9 and Jan. 31. I’m sure those will all be circled.
The Red Wings hustle back to Hockeytown to host the Calgary Flames on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. If you’re local, check out the pre-game festivities, as the team is making up for the home opener red carpet walk that was canceled due to weather.
