One of the stories of the opening weeks of the NHL season rolled on on Wednesday night, as the newly-offensive-juggernaut Red Wings embraced the national stage, rode a strong second period and withstood a third-period barrage by the Pittsburgh Penguins to take a 6-3 win on home ice.
Pre-Game
I turned on the TV and was immediately greeted by a TNT graphic that identified Erik Karlsson as the oldest-ever Norris Trophy winner at 32. It’s almost impossible to do less research there. Among other non-Red Wings who have won it later than that, one Nicklas Lidstrom won six of his seven Norris Trophies after he turned 32, the latest coming at 41. The tone’s been set.
Derek Lalonde indicated this morning a couple of defensemen were nursing injuries. After not skating this morning, Justin Holl took warmups but was held out (no official word on injury status), so Jeff Petry draws back in for this one.
The broadcast caught Lions receiver Jameson Williams sounding the goal horn to get the fans fired up. Seems like that might be a new in-game entertainment wrinkle, after Darren McCarty did so on opening night. I am kneecap-deep in blue koolaid, so it worked for me.
1st period
It was a sleepy start for the Red Wings with Pittsburgh notching the game’s first four shots, including a first-minute Evgeni Malkin goal. Petry had a chance to break up the pass but was preoccupied with Rickard Rakell, I can’t fault him much when several other Red Wings had a good view of this one. Just a bit too much puck-watching all around.
Detroit woke up thanks in part to a few strong shifts for the fourth line of Christian Fischer, Austin Czarnik and Klim Kostin, and Czarnik was eventually rewarded for his efforts on the scoresheet. He wedged by Chad Ruhwedel and found Alex DeBrincat back door for a wide-open tap-in goal – great play by Czarnik, and a nice finish for DeBrincat.
The Red Wings took a 7-6 shot advantage out of the first, knotted at one thanks to a late save from Ville Husso on a Jeff Carter breakaway.
2nd period
The Red Wings took a commanding lead in the second period, thanks to an offensive charge led by the usual suspects: Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry.
With parents in the building, Petry started the play that broke the tie, moving a puck up to Dylan Larkin, who found Chiarot streaking down the wing. Chiarot fired one far side past Tristan Jarry, who was partially obscured by Lucas Raymond creating havoc in front. The TNT broadcast all but willed a goalie interference challenge, which thankfully never materialized. Raymond grazed him, and was possibly responsible for Ruhwedel bumping Jarry, but it never appeared to impede Jarry tracking the puck.
Petry also had a hand in the next goal, making a nice play to collect a pass from Michael Rasmussen on his backhand and getting a shot through that Andrew Copp tipped past Jarry. Like the previous goal, it was a little surprising not that Pittsburgh didn’t challenge — one replay showed that Copp’s stick may have been a hair over the crossbar, but it wasn’t as obvious from the other angles, so it was probably wise to not challenge.
Folks, read this one carefully: the league’s best powerplay extended Detroit’s lead to three. Great puck movement here from every player on the ice, with back-to-back looks for Larkin from the bumper position in the slot. Jarry stopped both but wasn’t quick enough on the rebound that David Perron knocked in to make it 4-1.
We saw a little bad blood to end the period, with Jake Walman and Sidney Crosby sparking a scrum that ultimately ended with Larkin dropping the gloves with Marcus Pettersson. It felt a little weak for a five-minute major as most of the damage was done with gloves on, but it was evened up next whistle when another disagreement ensued, centered around how close Evgeni Malkin could get Moritz Seider’s face to the ice, which drew a double-minor to Seider’s two minutes. 4-1 Red Wings after 40, with a 19-15 shot advantage.
3rd period
Pittsburgh clawed back into the game throughout the third period, in large part due to marquee offseason acquisition Erik Karlsson. In the opening minutes of the period, he fired a shot through a maze of bodies and past Husso and later, Karlsson made it a one-goal game with a high shot that Bryan Rust tipped into the net.
In between, Detroit had a chance to restore its three-goal lead after Copp was awarded his second penalty shot in as many games, but Jarry made a blocker stop. Jokes about Copp’s finishing ability ensued, but he looks a tad quicker to me so it was encouraging to see him win a race (foreshadowing???) against Kris Letang to generate the chance.
The Penguins eventually lifted Jarry for the extra skater, and the game’s final moments weren’t without drama. After Copp won another race (remember the foreshadowing?? It’s like two sentences ago) against Malkin, he fired home an empty netter that was challenged for offside. This was a bizarre sequence to me – TNT again seemed to be pushing an overturn, but they were focused on the moment that Copp had the puck completely in the zone. The blueline is part of the offensive zone, they should have been looking at where Rasmussen’s skate was once Copp had the puck fully on the line. I didn’t see a great freeze frame of that particular moment, but logic tells me it would have been good.
With Jarry still out, DeBrincat added his fifth of the season – 12.5% of the way to 40 goals through four games, and the Red Wings improved to 3-1-0 with a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh. And thanks to the failed challenge, that went down as a power play goal which improved Detroit’s league-best power play to 46.2% (6-for-13) and vaulted DeBrincat into the NHL scoring lead with eight points in four games. Not bad!
Takeaways
Good win to keep the vibes train going. It’s hard to adjust to not seeing the same scripts play out that we’ve all grown so used to in the last few years, so the flat start was concerning after the emotional highs of the last few games. But they righted the ship quickly and thoroughly controlled large chunks of the game, especially the second period.
A nice ‘get-right’ game for Husso as well, especially with the 17 shots he faced in the third period (including a slapper from Karlsson from point blank). I don’t think he was especially at fault for many of the goals he allowed in his first two starts, but this was definitely a step in the right direction.
It’s always going to be good to see your premiere goal scorer stay hot, so five goals in four games for DeBrincat is ideal. It took him 16 games to get there last season with Ottawa. Here’s more great news for people who enjoy watching him score goals (which became outdated once he notched the empty netter).
DeBrincat is sure to remain in the spotlight as the Red Wings will next travel to Ottawa to play the Senators on Saturday at 1 p.m. I’m sure they’re planning a warm welcome.
