How did the Detroit Red Wings perform in Week Two of the season?
Despite a challenging start in Week Two, the Red Wings rallied to finish strong against a team they know well.
The Red Wings are coming out of what many would call a 50/50 week one of the regular season. They lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 in the home and season opener and then shut out the Nashville Predators in a 3-0 victory.
Last week, we saw the team have a few injuries, with both Jeff Petry and Christian Fischer out day-to-day and Ville Husso getting placed on waivers. Justin Holl and Austin Watson were called up in response (Watson has since been reassigned to Grand Rapids).
This week saw both Jeff Petry and Christian Fischer return to the lineup, and Marco Kasper got the call-up in lieu of Tyler Motte, who was out due to injury. So, how did the Red Wings fare in Week Two of the season?
Red Wings finish strong after a disappointing start to the week
Oct. 14, 2024
Game 3: Red Wings @ Rangers
1-4 Rangers Win
SOG: 32-28 Red Wings
Starting Goaltenders: Alex Lyon vs Igor Shesterkin
Lineup in the Big Apple. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/jE7jeP9ddT
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 14, 2024
In the first road game of the season, Alex Lyon and the Detroit Red Wings took on Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers, looking for a turnaround after a 6-5 overtime loss to Utah a few days before. This would be Lyon's first start of the season and one of the main storylines going into this game. Lyon had a rough finish to the 2023-24 season due to being overworked in the second half of the season. So many were interested to see if he could bounce back and make a solid 1A/1B pairing with Cam Talbot.
The first period began with the Red Wings dominating the Rangers; while they weren't getting an incredible amount of shots, they didn't allow the Rangers to get very much momentum for most of the first period. The times they did, the Red Wings were able to quell defensively, and when the shots reached the net, Lyon was there to make the save. That was until we were just over eight minutes left in the period when the Rangers would score off the rush, making it 1-0. Despite the Red Wings' best efforts, they couldn't get anything past Rangers ace netminder Igor Shesterkin, who played like a man trying to get his team to fork out 12+ million dollars for eight years. Thankfully, the Red Wings would get on the board with two seconds left, scored by Dylan Larkin (2), with a beautiful assist by Justin Holl (1) and Patrick Kane (1). The period would end in a 1-1 tie.
The second period is where hope goes to die when it comes to the Red Wings. Despite getting tons of "Grade A" chances from every single one of the Red Wings shooters, they couldn't get anything past Shesterkin, who was just otherworldly the entire game. Then the penalty train rolled into the station, which would eventually be the cause of the Red Wings loss as Chris Kreider would score the game-winning goal on the power play, making it 2-1 with just under three minutes left in the second period.
The third period began about the same way the second period did. The Red Wings continued to get loads of "Grade A" chances; Shesterkin kept them out of the net, rinse, and repeat. The Rangers extended their lead five minutes into the period, with Reilly Smith scoring immediately off the faceoff. The Red Wings would come close to scoring several times, but anything that didn't get stopped by Shesterkin was stopped by the Red Wings' worst enemy, the goalpost. Mika Zibanejad would ice the game with an empty net goal with over a minute left. The game would end with a score of 4-1, with the Rangers picking up the win.
This is, unfortunately, one of those games that seemed no matter what they did, the Red Wings were destined to lose. Between Shesterkin showing to the Rangers that he's worth every penny of the $12 million he's reportedly asking for. The top-six once again looked really good, as they had a majority of the scoring chances. Lyon performed as well as you could have hoped against a powerhouse like the Rangers. Holl also looked really good on the right side paired with Simon Edvinsson, who also had a good game.
Oct. 17, 2024
Game 4: Rangers @ Red Wings
5-2 Rangers Win
SOG: 34-31 Rangers
Starting Goaltenders: Cam Talbot v Jonathan Quick
Thursday night vs. the Rangers. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/QwIb0L2sLA
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 17, 2024
In their second meeting of the season, the Detroit Red Wings took on the surging New York Rangers. While the main concern for fans was facing Igor Shesterkin again, many were relieved to learn that 38-year-old goaltender Jonathan Quick would be in the net. The Red Wings responded by starting their own geriatric goaltender, 37-year-old Cam Talbot.
You could almost copy and paste the first period of this game with the last game against the Rangers. The Red Wings almost seemed to dominate the Rangers for the first period but ultimately came up with nothing. The difference in this game is that instead of getting goalied, the Red Wings couldn't hit the net if their life depended on it, a theme that would continue for the rest of the game. The game would be scoreless until about halfway through the first period when Artemi Panarin would score his first of three in this game off a shot that Talbot likely would've wanted to stop. Larkin, DeBrincat, and many others would have a plethora of chances, but nothing would come of them. Instead, Panarin would score with less than five minutes left in the period, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead going into the second period.
The second period is when the Red Wings started to lose their handle on the game. Things seemed to start well, with Moritz Seider (1) sniping the hell out the puck from the top of the faceoff circle for his first goal of the season, assisted by J.T. Compher (1) and Lucas Raymond (4). This gave the Red Wings a good bit of momentum for the rest of the start of the period. Once again, despite plenty of grade-A chances, they can't bury one in the net. The Red Wings momentum was completely halted when Vincent Trocheck scored on the powerplay with just over 11 minutes left in the period to make it 3-1. Things would go from bad to worse when, just 3 minutes later, Artemi Panarin would register the first hattrick of the season with a goal on the power play, extending the Ranger's lead to 4-1. Just over a minute later, Victor Mancini would score his first career NHL goal to extend the lead to 5-1, which would spell the end of Cam Talbot in net this game and would be the score going into the third period.
The Red Wings looked utterly defeated and uninterested in the third period. Sloppy plays left and right, bad penalties being taken at the wrong time, no hustle or bite. It seemed like the team didn't want to play the rest of the game. They held the Rangers off the scoresheet in the third period. The only silver lining from this period was J.T. Compher (2) scoring on the power play with just over three minutes left in the period, assisted by Ben Chiarot (2) and Erik Gustafsson (2). It was too little too late, though, as the Rangers would still win by a score of 5-2.
As I said, the Red Wings pretty much dominated the first period and the beginning of the second period as well. Unfortunately, their undoing was their horrible special teams play. The Red Wings had five powerplay opportunities and only scored on one of them, whereas the Rangers scored on three of the four powerplays they had. The team lacked effort and fightback in the first period and the beginning of the second period as well. Unfortunately, their undoing was their horrible special teams play. The Red Wings had five power play opportunities and only scored on one of them, whereas the Rangers scored on three of the four power plays they had.
Oct. 19, 2024
Game 5: Red Wings @ Predators
5-2 Red Wings Win
SOG: 24-39 Predators
Starting Goaltenders: Alex Lyon v Juuse Saros
How we're lining up. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/1d9ODvNmkj
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 19, 2024
The Detroit Red Wings took on the Nashville Predators in Nashville, with both teams hungry for a win. The Red Wings came into the game on a two-game losing streak, while the Predators came in with a four-game losing streak with zero wins on the season so far. We also got to see the season debut of Marco Kasper and the return of Jeff Petry. Tyler Motte was also out for this game due to injury. Johansson and Holl would both be scratched.
The first period set the tone for the entire game. Both teams came out with the intent to win. Marco Kasper would take the opening Faceoff and win it back to the D-pairing of Seider and Edvinsson. The game started with a fantastic back-and-fourth of puck possession between both teams. The stalemate was broken a bit under 10 minutes into the period when Luke Schenn scored his first of the season in his 1000th NHL game. The lead wouldn't last long, as Vladimir Tarasenko (2), assisted by Jonatan Berggren (1) and Marco Kasper (1), would score with 6:30 left in the period to tie the game at 1-1 and give Kasper his first NHL point.
The Red Wings didn't let off the gas in the second period (first time for everything, I guess) and would keep matching the Predators in nearly every facet of the game. The Red Wings would go on the power play, and after Saros slammed the Door on DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin (3) would score, assisted by Alex DeBrincat (2) and Patrick Kane (2) after some quick passing by Debrincat off his own rebound. The Preds would make a push during a 5-on-3 power play, but the Red Wings would ultimately make it out of the period with a 2-1 lead.
The Red Wings' third-period lead wouldn't last very long. Steven Stamkos would score his first of the season and first as a Nashville Predator, tying the game at 2-2. The Red Wings would make a push of their own and, off some good pressure from the line of Christian Fischer, Joe Veleno, and Andrew Copp, the Predators turned the puck over, which let Andrew Copp (2) score a bit of a greasy goal assisted by Joe Veleno (1) and Christian Fischer (1) which would ultimately be the game-winning goal. The Red Wings didn't leave it there, though; the Predators would end up pulling Saros with just under 3 minutes left in the game. Simon Edvinsson (1) would send the puck coast-to-coast to score on the empty net for his first of the season. The Predators would keep Saros pulled, allowing Andrew Copp (3) to score his second of the game, assisted by Michael Rasmussen (1). The Red Wings would win 5-3.
This was the perfect game to show what this team should be. The chemistry this team has on every line is palpable. Despite Lalonde breaking out the "Line Blender" to get the team going, Alex Lyon looked like the Alsex Lyon of last season before he got burned out and regressed to the mean. The defense looked far better this game, too. We got the Seider/Edvinsson pairing for the entire game and they proved that they are the future top defense pairing. Marco Kasper looked fantastic in his debut, crashing the net and winning board battles were good, but what I liked the most was he wasn't scared of playing hard against NHL vets. Gustafsson also seemed to step up his game, and while I still feel that Johansson should be in over him, there is no denying that he looked at minimum passable in this game and looked far better as the QB for the first power play unit.
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