"Fought hard" might be the most overused line in sports to use when your team loses, but it fits the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit went down by two goals early in Thursday night's loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, thanks to Sidney Crosby playing in vintage form.
Crosby struck on a power play with a wrister at the 4:08 mark as Anthony Mantha and Erik Karlsson provided the helpers. Under two minutes later, Crosby struck again, putting the Wings in a 0-2 hole.
Detroit could have folded there, but James van Riemsdyk notched his 10th goal of the season on the power play on a tip-in with Marco Kasper and Simon Edvinsson pitching in at the 17:46 mark of the first. Andrew Copp scored the only goal at the 1:01 mark of the second period and knotted things up, with Ben Chiarot and Patrick Kane helping out.
The Wings looked finished when Blake Lizotte scored at 15:51 in the third frame, but Alex DeBrincat said, "not so fast," and sank a power-play goal at 17:02 on a backhander to give him his 21st goal of the season. Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond were there for the helpers.
Unfortunately for the Wings, they couldn't stop Kris Letang from guaranteeing his 1,200th game would be memorable. With Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust setting up shop, Rust drilled home a slapshot and ended the Wings' hopes of kicking off 2026 with the W.
Detroit Red Wings gave the aging Penguins one memorable outing
It's hard to think of a better way to cap off one's 1,200th game with a goal to help inch his team one step closer to returning to the playoffs. Kris Letang wasn't the only Penguins player who reached a milestone, as Erik Karlsson notched his 900th career point in this one.
Sidney Crosby also tied Gordie Howe in game-opening goals, with Wes Crosby of NHL.com writing that "Crosby scored his 127th game-opening goal, tying Gordie Howe for the fourth-most all-time behind Alex Ovechkin (152), Jaromir Jagr (135) and Brett Hull (131)."
It's almost a certainty that Crosby will tie former Penguins great Jaromir Jagr soon after he passes Howe and Brett Hull. The burning question, though, is whether it will happen this season. Penguins fan or not, it's something all hockey fans will want to keep an eye on.
Other interesting Red Wings tidbits
With the new month in full effect, it was time to make some bold predictions for January, and Max Smith handed us three of them. Lucas Raymond is the headliner here, but Sebastian Cossa and the Wings' projected January point total are also discussed.
Besides his January prediction, Smith also made a midseason prediction that would carry the Wings for the rest of the regular season. This one involves Alex DeBrincat, and one you don't want to miss if you're a Wings fan. He also identified a trending topic regarding Marco Kasper.
I talked about Todd McLellan and his midseason stance on the Wings. McLellan is about as happy with Detroit's season as every fan is in Hockeytown. But he acknowledged the Wings are far from a finished product. One telling stat measuring the way they played in October, November, and December outlines exactly what McLellan's getting at.