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Detroit Red Wings Fall to Dallas Stars in Overtime, 2-1

By Nate Brown

Jan 26, 2021; Dallas, Texas, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Taro Hirose (67) and center Vladislav Namestnikov (92) and defenseman Christian Djoos (44) and right wing Givani Smith (48) celebrates a goal scored by Namestnikov against the Dallas Stars during the first period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 26, 2021; Dallas, Texas, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Taro Hirose (67) and center Vladislav Namestnikov (92) and defenseman Christian Djoos (44) and right wing Givani Smith (48) celebrates a goal scored by Namestnikov against the Dallas Stars during the first period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Detroit Red Wings got finally got some secondary scoring, but it wasn’t enough.  Vladislav Namestnikov‘s first goal as a Red Wing was the effort of a great forecheck when Christian Djoos dumped the puck in as Givani Smith blew past two Dallas players to retrieve. He backhanded it to Taro Hirose, who centered it Namestnikov. The puck bounced off a Dallas skate to the waiting center who buried a five hole to give the Wings a 1-0 lead.  But the Stars answered back on a power play later in the period to knot it at one.

The third period was a back and forth affair but Dallas controlled the flow for most of the period. Detroit had a  power play with 4:09 remaining in the game. The Red Wings had a couple good chances, but Dallas killed the penalty and a couple chances both ways eventually yielded to overtime. Dallas would escape triumphant, sending the Wings to 2-4-1 on the season. The same old story came to pass: not enough goal scoring. But peering into the box score, it may have been a self-inflicted wound.

A Few Thoughts

  • One of the biggest critiques of coach Jeff Blashill is the ice time he hands out during crucial moments. Curiously, Frans Nielsen, Valtteri Filppula, and Luke Glendening were out during stretches of the third when other lines were generating chances. Filppula had over a minute more ice time (18:07) than Dylan Larkin (17:04) and was third among forwards. I’m going to use a comparison here where back in the heyday of Red Wing hockey, this would be akin to playing Yuri Butsayev a minute more than Sergei Fedorov in a tight game. This is a legitimate beef in that Glendening, and Filppula though defensively responsible, are just not going to generate scoring chances like you need in 1-1 games. It’s certainly something that doesn’t help Blashill’s case. Worse, neither Glendening, Filppula, or Nielsen had a single shot on goal all game long. It’s just bizarre usage.
  • The second power play unit with Michael Rasmussen centering in the late stages of the really held its own. Taro Hirose looked great on the point and ripped a shot that Rasmussen had a few chances at. He used his frame in a more aggressive way and I see that being a goal sometime down the road when this team is more comfortable in its skin.
  • Poor Thomas Greiss. What more does the guy have to do? Another great performance—another loss for his troubles.

Dallas and Detroit finish off the two-game set Thursday.

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