Did the Detroit Red Wings bounce back in Week 3?

Oct. 24, 2024
Game 7: Devils @ Red Wings
3-5 Red Wings Win
SOG: 40-20 Devils

Starting Goaltenders: Cam Talbot v Jacob Markström

The Detroit Red Wings came into this game coming off of a 1-0 win against the Islanders in what was probably the most boring game I've ever watched, looking to extend their win streak to three. The Devils on the other hand come into this game looking to not make their current losing streak three in a row. The Devils would also see the season debuts of Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce, while the Red Wings would be running an 11/7 lineup with J.T. Compher out sick. Albert Johansson would be a healthy scratch once again.

The first period began with both teams flying. While there were three whistles in the first few minutes of the period, we went roughly seven minutes without a whistle. During that time, the Devils borderline dominated the Red Wings in their zone and got shot after shot. Immediately every Red Wings fan got bad flashbacks to the Islanders game when the Devils had doubled the Red Wings shots before the halfway point of the first period.

After a fairly weak slashing penalty on Mo Seider, the Devils would go to the power play. 15 seconds into the power play Nico Hischier would score after the refs ignored a blatant holding call on Ben Chiarot. After some solid back and forth and a failed power play from the Red Wings, they would finally get on the board with just under two minutes in the first period when Christian Fischer (1) would score off of a lucky bounce assisted by Andrew Copp (1) to tie the game at 1-1.

I hope you didn't leave to grab another beer because 37 seconds later Alex Debrincat (3) would steal the puck and snipe it from the slot giving the Red Wings a 2-1 lead. The Red Wings would hold this lead for the rest of the period and after a "too many men" penalty to the Devils at the end of the period, the Red Wings would go into the second period with not just the lead, but a power play as well.

The Red Wings would start the second period by failing to convert on the power play they received at the end of the first. The game would go back and forth until Dylan Larkin would get sent to the bad boy box for Elbowing Paul Cotter at 16:33 of the period. Erik Haula would end up tipping a rogue one-timer off a broken stick to tie the game at 2-2. About a minute later, the referees would call Patrick Kane on what is quite possibly the worst high-sticking call I have ever seen in my life. Thankfully the Red Wings were able to kill this penalty off and let them trot into the third period tied at 2-2.

The third period is where things got wild. It started much like the first two periods, with the Devils flying everywhere around the ice and getting some solid sustained pressure on Detroit while the Red Wings would occasionally break out and get one or two solid chances of their own. With a little under 11 minutes left in the third, Christian Fischer would lay a big hit on Brenden Dillon which would create a kerfuffle in the corner. Dillion would get up and immediately drop the gloves with Fischer.

Both players left the scrap with a bit of face leakage and would talk about what they planned on being for Halloween In the Sinners Coffin. Dillon would be assessed a second minor penalty for roughing giving the Red Wings a power play with half the period to go. Larkin (4) would tip the puck in front of the net off a beautiful play by Patrick Kane (3) and Lucas Raymond (5), giving the Red Wings a 3-2 lead with just over 10 minutes to go.

The lead would be short-lived however because, after a Delayed hooking penalty from Chiarot, a bit of a brabble broke out that saw Chiarot take Johnathan Kovacevic to the ground. The timeout pen is getting full as Chiarot, Raymond, Berggren, and Fischer all think about what they did wrong. The Devils would still get the power play and obviously, Nico Hischier would score tying the game at 3-3.

With 3:30 left in the game, Dawson Mercer would cross check Olli Maatta in the neck and get put in the corner for another Red Wings powerplay. Patrick Kane (2) would Snipe one from the top of the faceoff circles assisted by Lucas Raymond (6) and Alex DeBrincat (3) giving the Red Wings a 4-3 lead with three and a half minutes left in the game.

At 2:37, Jeff Petry would use the power of the force to make Paul Cotter fall on his face but unfortunately, the refs were also force-sensitive and caught on the Petry's tricks and gave him two minutes for tripping. Thankfully the Red Wings were able to kill off the penalty and with 12 seconds left, Michael Rasmussen (1) buried an empty net goal giving the Red Wings a 5-3 lead, while simultaneously burying Jack Hughes's dignity by not only letting Hughes bounce off him but also celebrating while staring into the soul of Hughes.

This game was far more entertaining to watch. Lots of physicality, and high-octane offense. Cam Talbot looked really good in net aside from the third Devils goal where he probably should made that stop. The Kasper line once again looked good as Both Berggren and Kasper would have some solid chances.

I'm glad to see that the top six seem to have some jump in their step again with Kane, Larkin, DeBrincat, and Raymond all notching points. Special teams continue to be a big problem for the team on both sides of the puck. Now if only we could get Johansson back in the lineup more consistently I think we could help fix one of those issues.

Oct. 26, 2024
Game 8: Red Wings @ Sabres
3-5 Buffalo Win
SOG: 25-39 Buffalo

Starting Goaltenders: Alex Lyon v Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

The Detroit Red Wings come into this game looking to extend their three-game win streak while the Buffalo Sabres come in looking to extend their two-game win streak. J.T. Compher would return to the Red Wings lineup after missing the last game with illness.

The first period started with the Sabres flying and the Red Wings dying. The Red Wings ended up being stuck in their zone for about three full minutes until Marco Kasper received his first visit to the NHL time-out box, giving the Sabres their first power play of the game. A power play that Jason Zucker would score on giving the Sabres the 1-0 lead.

The Sabres would continue to keep the Red Wings trapped in their own zone, peppering Alex Lyon with shot after shot after shot (feel like I've seen this one before). With eight minutes Ben Chiarot would make, what I would call, the worst possible line change I have ever seen. Allowing for a Sabres 22-on-1 that would see Simon Edvinson perform the best yoga I have ever seen performed on ice skates to try and break it up.

Alas, it wasn't enough, as known Red Wing killer Tage Thompson would score to make it 2-0. But hold on, the Red Wings seemed to have realized that they are allowed to score goals and would do just that with 5:17 left in the period Alex DeBrincat (4) would score assisted by Moritz Seider (3) and Lucas Raymond (7) to make this period look better than it was for the Red Wings. The period would end with the Sabres up 2-1.

The second period would start about the same as the first. The Sabres came out ready to build on their lead and the Red Wings came out looking to do the opposite it would seem. The Red Wings would once again be stuck in their own zone for far longer than anybody would've liked. This would lead to another Tage Thompson goal when Erik Gustafsson and Justin Holl would somehow lose him in the slot making it a 3-1 game for the Sabres.

Thankfully, the Red Wings would step it up and just 31 seconds later, Michael Rasmussen (2) would score assisted by Moritz Seider (4) and Simon Edvinsson (3) to make it 3-2. This would give the Red Wings the jolt they needed to at least try and get some sustained offensive zone pressure, J.T. Compher would check into the two-minute chill room giving the Sabres another power play.

A goal would be scored during the power play, but never fear, the goal came from Lucas Raymond (1) scoring not only his first goal of the season but the first short-handed game of his career tying the game at 3-3. Unfortunatly, this version of the Red Wings won't allow us to have nice things as the Red Wings would surrender a goal to Bowen Byram with just over four minutes left in the period, giving the Sabres the 4-3 lead going into the third period.

The third period was where the Red Wings went to almost score a goal. Several times the Red Wings had picture-perfect chances to take the lead and every time it either hit the post or sailed high, wide, or both. The Red Wings would pull Alex Lyon with just over two minutes left in the game, and they would put pretty significant pressure on the Sabres during this time, when Patrick Kane would shoot at a wide-open net and it would ring off the post right into the hands of the Sabres who sent it the length of the ice for an empty net goal. The Sabres win 5-3.

This was a game that had "Sabres win" written all over it. The Sabres did much of what the Devils and Islanders did to the Red Wings and kept them trapped in their own zone. The difference was that the Sabres for most of the game got the goaltending to back up their offense.

While yes, Lalonde did start the line blender to generate offense in the third period, the first and third lines stayed the same for most of the game. Oddly enough, they were really the only consistent lines all game. Alex Lyon did everything he could to give the team the best possible chance to win this game. Unfortunately, the overall effort wasn't there. but most of the lineup. At least Raymond finally scored.

Oct. 27th 2024
Game 9: Oilers @ Red Wings
3-2(OT) Oilers Win
SOG 34-26 Oilers

Starting Goaltenders: Cam Talbot v Calvin Pickard

Well, this was a fun one, wasn't it? The Red Wings came into this game off a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, a game that they didn't seem all that into most of it. They take on the struggling Edmonton Oilers who are coming off a 4-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Holl and Gustafsson would be scratched in favor of Maatta and Johansson. Yes, Albert Johansson finally gets into the lineup after being scratched for the last five games.

The first period was nothing but Red Wings. It stunned Red Wings fans as everybody was fully expecting another lackluster performance with some small jolts of energy. This was not that. This was the exact opposite of the Buffalo game.

The Red Wings would put tons of pressure on the struggling Edmonton defense It didn't take long for it to pay off either as J.T. Compher (3) would make an incredible shot off a Patrick Kane (4) no-look pass who got the puck from kick pass from Andrew Copp (2) making it a 1-0 game. The Red Wings would continue to dominate the period until just over four minutes left when Joe Veleno would drop the gloves with Corey Perry taking him down to the ice. The Red Wings would hold on and take the 1-0 lead to the second period.

The second period was scary as the Oilers realized that they were playing a pro hockey game. This was when the Oilers started sending McDavid and Draisaitl over the boards every other shift because the Red Wings defense and Cam Talbot in net were playing that well. A lot of Red Wings fans will see the team getting stuck in the D-Zone as the defense playing poorly.

When in retrospect they played well. Unfortunately, no matter how well you play, you can only do so much against two of the best players in the world, which showed when Leon Draisaitl scored at 11:14 in the period. Don't fret fair maiden, Because this ain't your Red Wings of a week ago, no this is a goal-scoring team now, meaning the next person to score would of course be Andrew Copp (4) assisted by Jeff Petry (1) who had his rocket of a shot deflected and Patrick Kane (5) making it 2-1 in favor of Detroit. The Red Wings would once again hold and take a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period.

The third period was where we saw a lot of McDavid and Draisaitl. Every other shift they were on the ice and every time they were on the ice, they were out for nearly two minutes. While the Red Wings were able to weather the storm at first, they could only hold on for so long and that limit was hit at 9:13 in the period when Evan Bouchard would rip an absolute missle bast Cam Talbot who didn't stand a chance in stopping the shot tieing it at 2-2. The score would remain tied for the rest of that game and would get sent to overtime.

The Oilers would start overtime with a 4-on-3 Powerplay for about 10 seconds after a poor tripping penalty to Copp at the end of the third period, and while they didn't score on the powerplay itself, it wouldn't be too long after when Edvinsson would, unfortunately, lose Leon Draisaitl who would make it to the open side of the net and would bury it got the Game winning goal.

This was by far, the best game the Red Wings played so far this season. Everybody played their role, Cam Talbot looked like the all-star goalie Yzerman signed, and Berggren, Kasper, and Tarasenko looked good together even if it didn't show on the scoresheet. Seider and Edvinsson continued to prove that they should be together for the foreseeable future. The only player I could criticize would be Maatta. There were just a few too many times when he got burned or made an iffy play. But overall i feel the team played well and we can only hope that this is the start of a potential run.